Snowed In
by M. Pond
Summary: It's one week until Christmas & the team are getting ready to head home for the night. Except for a tiny problem - Cardiff is snowed in & the team find themselves stuck in the hub. How will they cope being with each other 24/7? - Jack/Ianto and Tosh/Owen
1. Prologue

"Tosh!" I spun around trying to locate where the voice had come from. I spotted Jack heading down the stairs from his office, a file in his hand.

"What?" I shouted back to him, buttoning up my coat.

"You finished analysing those disturbances yet?"

"Yes Jack I have. It's all done and on my desk." I pointed to the file and the printouts that I'd done for him. "I've analysed it all and come up with some theories on it." I grabbed a bobble off my desk and tied my hair up in a ponytail before pulling on a scarf. It was the middle of winter and it was going to be freezing outside, so it didn't help I was wearing a skirt.

"Can you just quickly look over this for me?" He held out the folder that he had been holding.

"No Jack I can't."

"Why not?"

"She's going on holiday isn't she?" I heard Owen say as he came up the stairs from the autopsy bay where he had been examining a dead Weevil.

"That's today? But I really need this done."

"Jack I can't. I've got to get back to my flat, get my suitcase and get a taxi to the airport. My plane leaves for Japan in less than 2 hours and I want to be on that plane. Get Gwen to do it or something."

"No, I'm not doing it either. I'm going home." I noted that she too was pulling on her coat.

"Why are you going?"

"Because I've done all the jobs you set me today and I'd quite like to spend some time with my husband. Come on Jack, it's one week until Christmas. Can't we just rest a bit? Tosh is going anyway so we'll be down one member of the team."

"Nice try Gwen. Owen?" Jack looked hopefully over at him, but he was already ahead of him, pulling off his white coat and putting on his leather jacket.

"No way am I staying here if those two are going. One of us will do it tomorrow." Jack sighed, accepting defeat and threw the file down on Gwen's desk.

"Fine. Gwen you can do it tomorrow."

"Me?"

"Yes you." With that he turned and disappeared into his office, slamming the door behind him.

"Don't worry about it Gwen. He'll have forgotten all about it tomorrow," Ianto said as he appeared from the kitchen. "Are you all going?"

"Yep." The three of us replied in unison.

"I'll join you. I need to head into the city centre and get a present."

"Who for?" I asked, hitching my bag onto my shoulder.

"My mum," he muttered, blushing slightly. Owen snorted and I hit him on the arm.

"Shut up Owen. That's really nice Ianto. At least some people are getting in the Christmas spirit," I said as we headed into the dark corridor that lead into the tourist shop.

"I never get in the Christmas spirit. Don't see the point," Owen grumbled.

"You're just a scrooge," Gwen laughed. The four of us entered the dimly lit shop and made our way to the door. "Looking forward to going to Japan Tosh?"

"Yeah, chance to see all my family again. Though Jack's got me on call so if anything happens I can fly straight back."

"No," Owen said, grabbing my arm and pulling me towards the door. "You haven't had a holiday since we started at Torchwood. You are having the next fortnight off no matter what, even if the world ends."

"But…"

"No buts," Ianto added. He went to pull open the door, but he stopped as it refused to move. Yanking at it hard, it stayed firmly shut. "It's stuck."

"Oh move over you weakling," Owen muttered, shoving him out of the way. He attempted to pull the door open, however it remained firmly stuck.

"Any other bright ideas?" Ianto laughed. I wandered over to the window and dazzling whiteness hit me. Snow was piled up against the window, towering well over the small building we were standing in.

"Um guys. You may want to look at this." I beckoned them over and they all gathered around the tiny window. There was nothing out there except white snow.

"Oh fuck," Owen groaned. "Tosh was there anything announced about a giant freak snowstorm?"

"The weather guy said there would be light snow, but nothing more than a gentle covering."

"This is not a gentle covering!"

"We must not have noticed it because we were in the hub," Gwen said, staring out at the avalanche of snow that had fallen over the streets of Cardiff.

"That's what you get for having no windows." Just then there was a buzzing noise and Gwen shoved her hand in her pocket, pulling out her phone.

"Great. I've got 9 missed calls and a voicemail." She held the phone up to her ear and we could faintly hear what sounded like Rhys' voice. "Rhys called me earlier this afternoon. I must not have heard it ringing. He said that the news announced at lunchtime that the snow was going to be getting heavier and that it looked like it was going to be stopping. Apparently they were warning people to go and get supplies because people could be getting snowed in."

"Snowed in?"

"You mean we're stuck here?"

"Looks that way." I felt my own phone buzzing and I pulled it out. "Hello?"

"Is…th-…Sato?" I could barely hear him since my signal was practically all gone thanks to the snow.

"I'm sorry, I can't really hear you. Yes this is Miss Sato."

"…can't…pick up…snow…roads blocked…airport …no flights…" Suddenly I heard the dialling tone and I realised my phone had just lost its entire signal. Flipping it shut, I stuffed it back in my pocket.

"Something wrong?" Owen asked sarcastically. I glared at him and the smirk fell from his face.

"Yes something is wrong. From what I can gather, all the roads are blocked and there are no flights because of the snow. My grandmother is expecting me in Japan in just under 12 hours to get ready to celebrate Christmas and instead I'm snowed in." Ianto gave me an apologetic smile and I shrugged.

"We better go tell Jack." The other three nodded and we made our way back into the hub.

When we entered, Jack was standing at my computer typing something, a brown file open next to him. He turned when we entered, looking slightly confused as to why all four of us were back.

"And you lot are here because…"

"The whole of Cardiff is snowed in. The roads are blocked, there are no flights and there's no way out of here. We're stuck until the snow clears," Gwen sighed, pulling off her coat and draping it over her chair. I pushed Jack away from my computer and began to try and locate a signal.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to pick up a TV station if I can, find out what's going on and how long we'll be stuck here for. Ah ha!" I grinned as BBC News popped up on the screen, and the familiar face of Bill Turnbull smiled down at us. The image changed and the screen showed a video of Cardiff completely covered by snow. The roofs of buildings were visible, but all the streets and pavements were white.

"As you can see, thanks to a freak snowstorm, Cardiff is completely snowed in. This morning, the local news predicted a light covering of snow, however by lunchtime the snowfall had become immensely heavy. At this moment, it shows no sign of stopping. Residents were warned to stock up on food, and it is predicted that Cardiff could be snowed in for a week. In other news…" I turned off the video and turned to face the team whose faces were all aghast.

"A week? There is no way in hell that I am staying here with you lot for a week!" Owen shouted.

"Gee thanks. Do you think we want to be here with you either?"

"I have to get home. Rhys is expecting me. I can't be here a week."

"I'm meant to be on my way to the airport by now!"

"How are we going to survive a week?"

"We'll be snowed in for Christmas!"

"Would you guys shut up for a moment? We'll cope! It won't be a week, they always over predict on these things. It'll probably be 3 or 4 days."

"3 or 4 days?"

"Max. Something happened like this in the 1980's and it really wasn't that bad. Actually if I remember rightly half the team ended up shagging by the end of it." We all stared at him looking distinctly unimpressed. "Though that won't happen this time. Right. Ianto, go and check how much food we have in the kitchens. Tosh go and check the lockers and see what spare clothes everyone has. I'm sure we don't want to spend the next few days in our work gear. Owen go and store that dead Weevil somewhere. Gwen you can get started on that report."

"You want me to work?"

"That is what we do here. Come on team, this will be fun," he grinned, before turning and heading into his office. The four of us stood looking shocked. How would we survive a week…in here…with each other?

A/N: I'm really not sure where I got the idea of Torchwood getting snowed in from, but it seemed an interesting idea. I can imagine the five of them stuck together. This will probably only be a few chapters long –maybe one for each day they're in there. We shall see.

Hope you liked. If you did or if you didn't, please review and tell me what you thought.


	2. Day 1: Evening

**DAY 1 – EVENING**

Owen's P.O.V

I grumbled as I made my way down the stairs into the autopsy bay. The dead Weevil, which I had been performing an autopsy on earlier, was still lying on the table. I'd wanted to get away from here as fast as I could so I hadn't bothered storing the body somewhere, figuring I could sort it tomorrow. Now I was stuck here with it.

I placed the heavy body into one of the empty drawers and slammed it shut. There was no way I wanted to be stuck in this place for the next few days. I saw enough of the team when I was actually at work and now I had to spend my free time with them as well! Fucking snow. Why did it have to snow today? Couldn't it have just waited until we'd all gone home? Then we could all have had a nice few days off. No, instead it does it while we're working so we can't get out. Just fucking great. Now I was stuck in the dark hub with the people I worked with.

Groaning I made my way back upstairs and saw Gwen stood at her station holding the file that Jack had given her to work on. She was ranting at him and it was safe to say that she was not happy at all.

"Jack! Why am I the one who has to do work?"

"Because," he muttered.

"Oh yeah because that's a reply," I said sarcastically, butting in on their conversation. "Just let her do it tomorrow Jack. We're stuck here for the next few days. I'm sure she can get it done at some point."

"Fine," he said glaring at me. He stalked off in the direction of his office muttering under his breath. I had no doubt that Jack would quite happily shove me out into the snow if he could.

"Thanks Owen." She smiled at me before going to help Ianto in the kitchen. As she walked away, it suddenly hit me that whatever had been there between us was now gone. We'd been attracted to each other and the sex had been great, but it was like…now there was nothing there but friendship. I hadn't noticed the change as it had happened so gradually, but we'd gone from shagging each other to being colleagues and to a certain extent, friends. It also hit me that I was happy with that. I didn't want her anymore.

Just then the door leading to the locker rooms flew open and Tosh came stumbling in, carrying a pile of clothes. I stood staring at her as she staggered over.

"No it's fine. You don't have to help. I can mange," she said sarcastically.

"All right then, I won't." As she dropped the clothes onto the floor, she glared at me.

"You can be a right wanker Owen. Why do I put up with you?"

"Because you wouldn't be able to cope without me," I laughed at her. "Why exactly do you have all these clothes?"

"Jack sent me to raid everyone's lockers remember." She flopped down onto the floor and rested her head against the clothes.

"You went in my locker?"

"Uh-huh. You really need to clean it out!" She giggled and moved quickly as I bent down to hit her. I sat down next to her and the two of us lay there on the clothes and stared up at the roof of the hub.

"You upset about not going to Japan?" I asked her. She nodded and turned so she was resting on her side and could see me properly.

"Yeah. I haven't seen my family in two years and it would have been really nice to spend Christmas with them. I haven't actually been to Japan in four years either."

"Well if we get out of here before the big day, you can always fly out."

"Yeah I know. It's just my gran is a big Christmas fan and so she always does a lot of stuff in the build up to it. When I was younger, I always used to spend the week before Christmas at her house helping her get ready."

"I'm sorry Tosh. Kind of sucks that we're Torchwood; an organisation who can save the planet, destroy alien races and cover up mysterious deaths. But we can't clear away some snow." She laughed, which I took as a good sign.

"There is one positive though," She laughed. "At least I don't have to put up with being called an unsold Christmas cake." I looked at her confused.

"What?"

"Oh right, it doesn't happen over here. In Japan, the cake shops all make these fantastic Christmas cakes and they try and sell them before Christmas Eve. After that they're seen as old and out of date. So single women over 25 are called unsold Christmas cake. It's an old thing and I mean loads of women get married later nowadays. It's just that my gran still lives in the old days as do most of my aunts, so they think I should be married by now."

"That sucks."

"Ah you get used to it. My gran calls me every Christmas Eve to find out what I'm doing. It's really important that you spend the day with someone. It's all about where you spend the day and what present you get. It's meant to be all romantic and gorgeous. So obviously my gran always calls to see if I'm finally with a guy. So I get to skip all that. Especially if we stay stuck here." I looked at her and saw the sad smile that was on her face. I'd known Tosh since she'd started working here, but we'd slowly drifted apart, especially when I started sleeping with Suzie and when Gwen joined the team. We hadn't even meant to stop hanging out, it had just happened. Smiling at her, I pulled her into a hug and the two of us lay there in silence, her with her head on my chest.

Gwen's P.O.V

"Is that everything?" I asked Ianto, glancing down at the list we'd just finished.

"Yep. That's all the food we've got to survive on." I groaned as my eyes scanned over the contents of the list.

"Looks like we'll be living off beans on toast. Woo!" I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

"I'm sure I'll be able to whip something up with what we've got. Or at least I hope I can."

"Come on then." I held out my arm to Ianto. "Lets go give the team the bad news." The two of us linked arms and headed out into the main section of the hub. Jack was coming down the stairs from his office as we emerged from the kitchen and he grinned at us. He held his fingers to his lips and pointed to the floor. Gazing across the hub, I saw Tosh and Owen lying on a pile of our clothes curled up together, eyes closed.

"I wish I had a camera," Ianto whispered in my ear and I couldn't help but giggle. The three of us froze as the pair on the floor shifted slightly, but they didn't get up. I watched bemused as Jack slowly crept over to them until he was standing right over them.

"Oi! Lovebirds! Get up!" The two leapt apart in the blink of an eye and stood on opposite sides.

"Fuck off Jack," Owen glared at him. Tosh was blushing slightly and I felt sorry for her. She was easily embarrassed sometimes.

"Now we're all here, lets report on the situation." The five of us made our way over to the meeting room and took our seats. "Ianto how much food do we have?" Ianto wandered over to the front of the room, and I noticed Jack very lightly brush his hand.

"Ok we've got 4 loafs of bread; 1 pot of jam; 1 large pizza that someone ordered yesterday and didn't eat; 6 cans of beans; 8 eggs; 4 jars of coffee; 10 teabags; 8 pints of milk; half a bag of sugar; 2 bars of chocolate and one orange," he read off the list.

"Well we've got enough to eat," Jack said and I wondered how on earth he thought that was enough. Before I could input though, Owen got there.

"Enough? Jack we've basically got toast, beans, eggs and 1 pizza. Oh and lets not forget the chocolate and the orange. We're going to starve."

"We just have to think about this logically. We have toast and coffee for breakfast, beans on toast for lunch and eggs, beans and toast for dinner."

"We have 8 eggs," Tosh added. " There are 5 of us. That means the eggs won't even last two days. So it's basically beans on toast." None of us looked impressed at that thought. One week with only beans on toast to eat hardly sounded like an appetizing offer.

"Well there's pizza tonight," he offered. "We'll live, you'll just have to think positive. Come on lets go get changed."

The five of us made our way to the pile of clothes Tosh had brought through, and we began to scavenge for our clothes that were actually suitable to wear. When we'd found them, we all scattered to different parts of the hub to change. As I pulled on the pair of jogging pants that I'd left in my locker, I thought about Rhys. He would be home by now and would be wondering where I was and why I hadn't called him back. I'd checked my phone and it had no signal, so I was going to have to convince Jack to let me use the office line. I glanced down at the engagement ring on my finger and smiled. I still couldn't quite believe Rhys and I were getting married. I couldn't deny that part of me did love Jack, but I knew that he was happy with Ianto. Ianto had really come out of himself since him and Jack had started 'secretly' seeing each other. They thought none of us knew about it but we all did. They weren't exactly subtle. It had made me realise though that I couldn't go storming in and have Jack for myself. He and Ianto were happy together and I had Rhys who loved me. Sighing, I headed out of the locker room into the main hub. I could see Jack in his office rooting for something and Ianto was handing out cups of coffee. I gladly accepted one; glad to have something warm to drink. He wandered over to Tosh and Owen who both took one. I watched as Owen lobbed one of his hoodies over to her, which she gladly took. I was still confused as to how I felt about Owen. I knew I didn't want to be with him and I'd regretted the affair so much. It was just that it had been nice to have someone to talk to about what was happening at work; someone who understood. I could already see though that he'd moved on now.

Shaking my head slightly, I made my way up the stairs to see Jack dressed as he always was. I knocked on the door and he gestured for me to come in.

"Not getting changed boss?" I asked, running my eyes over his outfit.

"This is what I wear," he laughed. "And if you want to check me out, you could just ask." I shook my head at him and he grinned. "Something you wanted?"

"Yeah, I wanted to borrow the phone. Is that alright?" He nodded and made his way out of the office without a word.

I sat at his desk and dialled the number of our flat. Rhys picked up almost instantly.

"Gwen? Oh God I've been worried sick about you. Where are you?"

"I'm at work. I didn't get your messages and by the time I did it was too late. We're snowed in over here and so we're stuck until it clears."

"You're joking?"

"Nope. I'm really sorry Rhys. I would have called you earlier but I can't get signal…" I stopped myself from saying that I was underground.

"Okay. Will you be alright?"

"Yeah I'll be fine. I'll call you tomorrow alright." He made a sound of acknowledgement.

"Love you." I smiled.

"I love you too Rhys. Bye." I hung up the phone and leant back in Jack's chair. Rhys loved me and I loved him. I was just lucky I'd found someone who wanted me.

I was interrupted by a knock on the door and I looked up to see Tosh standing there. Her hair was up in a ponytail and she was wearing jeans and a hoodie.

"Hey, are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine. Just had to call Rhys to tell him I won't be back for a few days."

"I'm sorry Gwen."

"You've got it worst," I said, smiling sympathetically at her. "You're meant to be on a plane by now."

"I know. That's what I'm here for – are you done with the phone? I need to call my gran." I nodded and stood up from the chair and moved away from the desk. She curled up in the seat, her bare feet resting on the leather chair. I watched as she dialled a number and sat with the phone cradled in her neck. As I walked out, I heard her begin to talk in Japanese.

Ianto's P.O.V

I sat on the sofas across from Jack and he grinned at me.

"That's our plans gone to pot then." The two of us had planned to spend tonight together since everyone would have gone home. Now instead we were stuck with all of them.

"We'll just have to reschedule sir," I smiled at him. I wasn't sure if you could say Jack and I were dating, even though we had been on two dates. We'd been hiding it from the rest of the team, though we both had a distinct feeling they knew. If asked, I guess I would have said that Jack and I were seeing each other. Before he'd left, it had been a lot more casual than it was now. At some point when he'd returned, it had become exclusive; there was no one else. I liked that. He made me feel happier than I had in a long time and I loved being with him. I was starting to realise that I didn't just love being with him; I loved him.

Before he got a chance to reply, Gwen descended the stairs from his office and Owen appeared from the opposite side of the hub. The two sat on the sofas and looked expectantly at Jack.

"So what exactly are we supposed to do now?" Owen asked.

"And if you suggest work, I will not refrain from hitting you," Gwen added.

"Well have any of you got any suggestions?" The moment Owen opened his mouth I knew exactly what he was going to say.

"Lets all have sex." I groaned quietly and laughed as Jack veto-ed that idea.

"However tempting that sounds Owen, I have a feeling the others wouldn't be up for it. Anyone else?" There was silence as the four of us tried to come up with an idea of what we could actually do to keep ourselves entertained. Ideas ran through my head but I rejected each and every one of them. Right now it looked like we weren't going to starve to death, we were just going to die of boredom.

The silence was broken by the sound of Tosh slamming the phone down and shouting rather loudly,

"Fucking Christmas cake." She stormed down the stairs, a look of anger on her face, and threw herself down on the sofa.

"Everything alright Tosh?" Jack asked. She simply gave him a look that said 'ask-me-again-and-I'll-kill-you.' "Moving on. How about I never?" Everyone sat up and stared at him.

"We've got no booze," Owen said, having to have his input.

"Yes we do. Ianto go get some cups."

"Yes sir." I stood up and wandered into the kitchen. I knew Jack kept a stash of alcohol in his office for 'emergencies.' We normally raided it when the two of us stayed late 'working.' Grabbing five mugs, I returned to the sofas just in time to see Jack coming from his office with a bottle of scotch.

"You've been holding out on us," Gwen remarked, gazing at the bottle in his hand.

"I think we've got ourselves a party."

Less than five minutes later, we were all sat holding mugs full of scotch and playing I've never.

"Gwen, try and come up with something everyone else has done. All the things you're saying no one's done." Gwen glared at him.

"Well how was I supposed to know that none of you have ever been to Disneyland? That's just sad."

"Tosh you're go," Jack said, speaking over her. I watched as Tosh gave a grin that was too evil for her and I knew instantly what she was going to say.

"I've never slept with someone who works for Torchwood." She looked satisfied as all of us groaned and drunk from our mugs.

"Is it bad that all but one of us has shagged someone who works here?"

"Probably," I said, wiping my lips. "I've never…" I racked my brains trying to think of something. "I've never been so drunk I can't remember shagging someone." Owen raised his glass and took a drink as did Jack and Tosh.

"Tosh?" Gwen asked looking rather surprised that our quiet colleague could get so pissed.

"Long story."

"I've never slept with an alien," Owen said.

"Come on Owen couldn't you come up with something better?"

"Hey! I've done a lot of stuff." I watched bemused as both Jack and Tosh drunk.

"Too many to count," Jack said as way of an explanation.

"Mary," Tosh added.

As the game went on, I realised that the people I worked with weren't as innocent as I thought – not that I thought Jack or Owen were innocent. It turned out that Gwen had joined the mile high club when she was 22 and heading to Ibiza and that Tosh had lost her virginity at 15. It had been an hour since we started playing and everyone, except Jack and I, had passed out. Gwen was curled up on one sofa and Tosh on the other. Somehow Owen had ended up on the floor.

"They won't wake up until the morning now. They're out cold," Jack said, taking my hand and leading me towards his bedroom. I was too drunk to even care that there was a chance that someone could catch us. We stumbled into the room and he pressed his lips against mine. As his hands began to fumble with my t-shirt, I kicked the door shut and we staggered towards the bed. Maybe being snowed in wasn't so bad after all.

A/N: Next chapter and it's longer than the last one :D I might not be able to update until Monday, but I will try my very best to get one up before hand.

Review and tell me what you thought.

Oh and thank you to all the people who reviewed:

**amy. j x**

**Sakya**

**kateg123**

**ThisPhoenix**

**MythStar Black Dragon**

**jackandiantoisforever**

**The Captains Girlie**

**Bacchae**

And to everyone who has put this story on alert and/or reviewed


	3. Day 2

Jack's P.O.V

I groaned as I rolled over onto my side and heard the sound of a crash coming from a vague direction. I slowly opened my eyes and saw that Ianto was standing at the bottom of the bed, wearing nothing but his boxers. Grinning cheekily at him, he saw that I was awake and rolled his eyes.

"It's 9 o'clock in the morning. You really don't need to make a suggestive comment." I laughed and held out my hand, wanting to pull him back to bed. However to my disappointment, he simply shook his head at me. "I'm sorry to tell you sir that I can't go and get back into bed with you. That crash was, I'm guessing, the sound of Owen attempting to go and make breakfast. I've got to go sort it out before the whole hub gets burnt down." As he pulled on his trousers I remembered the events of the previous day, and the fact that the entire team was now stuck in the hub. Bang went my idea of having some more time in bed with Ianto before the rest of the team rolled in. I fell back down against the pillows and I heard him laugh. "Not planning on getting out of bed any time soon sir?"

"Firstly Ianto, when are you going to stop with the sir?"

"You'll have to tell me once more…sir," he grinned as he wandered over to the wardrobe to find a spare shirt.

"Fine. Secondly I'll think about getting out of bed if you join me for a bit."

"Nice try. I'm sorely tempted but I'm going to go and control Owen." He winked at me and left the room.

I lay back in the now silent room and gazed around. It still felt strange to me that I could now call this place my home, even though I'd been living here for the past few years. I'd never bothered to try and find a flat that was in Cardiff since I figured it would be easier to just live here. Plus it was immensely handy for Ianto and I being able to spend the night together before heading to work. The only thing he had to worry about was sneaking out again next morning. I felt a grin form on my face as I thought of the young welsh man. He'd caught my eye the moment he had arrived here, a quiet young man from Torchwood One. Over time he'd begun to come out of himself, especially since we'd started…

It puzzled me slightly what we would refer to our 'thing' as. I'd never really done relationships, but at the same time, what was happening with Ianto and I was different to anything I'd done before. It had gone beyond sex since I'd returned. That date had changed our whole thing. Now there was something else there and I was realising that I liked it.

I was pulled from my thoughts by the sound of swearing coming from the kitchen and a rather large crash. Sighing, I clambered out of bed and tried to locate the clothes I'd been wearing last night. Something told me that the next few days were going to be nothing short of a disaster.

Owen's P.O.V (10 minutes earlier)

I shifted uncomfortably as it dawned on me that I was definitely not lying in my comfortable bed back at my flat. As I opened my eyes, I took in the ceiling that seemed to go on for infinity and Myfanway nesting overheard. I groaned loudly as I was suddenly reminded of the fact that I was stuck in the hub. My only other, slightly smaller, problem was why my back was killing me so much. I moved slightly and realised that I was lying on something hard. As I scanned the dimly lit room and saw the sofas on either side of me, I became conscious of the fact that I was in fact lying on the floor. I swore and stood up, stretching as I stared at the hard floor that I had just slept uncomfortably on. I had had no duvet and thus was bloody freezing. I saw the five shot glasses that were scattered on the various tables, as well as a bottle of scotch that had been kicked to the floor. There were shards of glass everywhere and a small puddle of the sticky brown liquid that we had been drinking last night. I gazed to my right and saw Tosh lying on her front, still fast asleep. I noted that it must have been her who had kicked the bottle over in the night; something that Ianto would not appreciate. I watched her breathing softly for a minute, lost in her dreams. I reached out and brushed a strand of hair off her face and then froze as she rolled over.

I made my way in the direction of the kitchen, not wanting to be caught gazing at her. As I wandered across the hub, I contemplated the feelings I had for Tosh. At one point we'd drifted apart, but I'd never really lost the feelings of friendship that we had once had; or at least I thought I hadn't. I knew that I'd been a bit of a prick to her sometimes, especially since Gwen arrived, but now we'd got closer again. Part of me felt like we were moving past friendship however, maybe we'd even left that behind. Were we moving into something more?

Ianto's P.O.V

"What are you doing?" I asked the figure whose head was buried in a cupboard. There were a number of pans on the floor as well as plastic cups. I ducked as a yellow beaker came flying at my head and it smashed against the wall. "Owen! What the hell is going on?" His head peered around the side of the cupboard door and he stared at my face.

"Oh, I didn't think anyone would be up yet."

"Well I was hardly going to be able to sleep with that racket was I?" He grinned at me.

"I'm sure Jack would have helped," he laughed. I glared at him and he disappeared back behind the cupboard. "I'm looking for some aspirin and some coffee. Neither of which I can find."

"And that involved you making such a mess?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at the mess that covered the floor.

"Well if you kept this kitchen a bit more organised," he muttered, slamming the kitchen door before groaning.

"Hangover?"

"No genius, that's why I want aspirin and coffee." I could have bothered to tell him that I too was suffering from a hangover, but he was in such a twattish mood that he wasn't going to care. Being snowed in had already taught me one thing; don't bump into Owen until after 9am and he's got a strong coffee inside of him.

I made my way through the mess that he had made, and in the direction of the cupboards at the other side.

"For your information, this kitchen is organised." I pulled open one cupboard and pulled out a jar of coffee. I then opened the one next to it and showed him a small bottle of paracetamol.

"For fuck's sake!" he shouted. I stifled a laugh as he stumbled over the pots on the floor, which he kicked in frustration. He grabbed the bottle of pills from my hand and made his way towards the kitchen sink.

"Something wrong?" I asked, knowing it was stupid to even try and ask Owen what was bothering him. That was confirmed as he turned and sent me a dark look. I sighed and sank to the floor to begin placing all the pans back in the cupboard.

Tosh's P.O.V

I rolled over onto my side and nearly screamed as I saw Gwen lying on the sofa opposite me. At first a million reasons flashed into my head as to why Gwen was sleeping on a sofa across from me. That was until I remembered that we were in fact snowed in and stuck in here for a week. I should have been in Japan by now and instead I was stuck in a freezing cold hub under Cardiff. Just fabulous. This was not exactly how I had planned on spending the build up to Christmas.

I lay back on the sofa, staring up at the ceiling, and wondered what it was that had woken me up. The hub was silent except for the soft hum of the machines. I couldn't see anyone but Gwen and me, and Jack's door was still firmly shut. However it was at that moment that I heard the sound of shouting coming from the kitchen. I frowned as I tried to recognise the voices. They were definitely male and it only took me a few seconds to realise that they belonged to Ianto and Owen. I sighed and stumbled up from where I was lying. I shut my eyes as I felt a banging in my head and the previous night came back to me in a blur of talking, drinking and laughing. I'd drunk way too much and probably told too many embarrassing stories to the rest of the team. Though when the memory of Ianto admitting that he had once run down the street naked popped into my head, I was confident that I hadn't been that embarrassing.

I began to make my way over to the kitchen when I felt a pain in my foot. I whimpered quietly and saw that there was a shard of glass lodged in it. I gazed down at the floor and saw that the bottle of scotch that we had been drinking was now lying all over the floor in small pieces. I sat back on the sofa and bit my lip as I pulled the piece of glass out. There were small droplets of blood on it and my foot was bleeding. I prayed that this wasn't a sign on things to come.

I began to limp towards the kitchen and I pushed open the door slightly. Before I had even got it fully open, I saw that Ianto was down on the floor and was putting pans back in the cupboards. Owen was leaning against the sink holding a cup of water and a bottle of paracetamol.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong!" Owen fixed him with a dark glare but Ianto persisted.

"Is it to do with Tosh?" I froze as I heard my name come up and I watched as Owen's face registered what Ianto had said. His face displayed anger, but there was a flash of something else, something I couldn't place.

"No!" he shouted slightly too loudly. I suddenly thought about what I should do. I could hardly be caught eavesdropping. Letting the door shut, I froze hoping that they hadn't noticed, but they carried on arguing. I took a couple of steps back and then shouted:

"Ow!" The conversation stopped and I limped into the kitchen.

The two stared at me as I entered and they both took in my limp.

"Something happen to your foot?"

"No!" I muttered, rolling my eyes at Owen. "I stepped on a piece of glass. Someone must have smashed that bottle."

"That would have been you. You must have kicked it in your sleep." He laughed at me and gestured me towards were he was standing. He grabbed a first aid box that Ianto kept in the kitchen for emergencies and pulled out a plaster. "There you go. As a doctor, I advise you to put this plaster on in and it will be fine."

"That's a very complex diagnosis you made there," I laughed at him, taking the plaster from his hand. I hopped onto the sideboard and ripped open the plaster.

"I'll get on with making breakfast," Ianto said, turning on the cooker.

"What are we having?" I asked, hopeful that maybe he had found something for us to eat aside from what was found yesterday.

"Eggs, beans and toast. Oh and coffee." I felt my hope diminish and I sighed at the poor offering of food.

"Great," both Owen and I said at the same time. I jumped down off the side and I felt him wrap an arm around me.

"Come on. Let's go get Miss Accident prone back to bed."

Gwen's P.O.V

I'd been awake for half an hour and I was currently sat in the meeting room polishing off the last of the breakfast that Ianto had made. It felt quite weird to be sat in here, surrounded by the team, eating breakfast. All of us were dressed in quite casual clothes and the whole scene just felt entirely…odd. I'd been in early before, but that was normally when something major had happened. We would all be rushing around, not sat eating beans on toast.

I slouched back in my chair and put my cutlery neatly on the now empty plate.

"Thanks for that Ianto." He smiled at me and grabbed my plate along with his one.

"Anyone else done?" he asked, gesturing to the other three who were nearly done. There were murmurs of acknowledgement and the sound of cutlery and plates being picked up. I watched as Ianto attempted to pick up all five plates and I stood up to help him. I grabbed Owen and Jack's plates and made my way to the kitchen, following behind Ianto.

I still couldn't quite believe that we were going to be stuck here for the next few days, maybe even over Christmas. I thought about Rhys who would be stuck in the flat all by himself. We'd planned to spend Christmas together; our first one since we'd got married. He'd gone and bought a big tree and started putting the presents underneath. Now there was a chance that I would miss Christmas entirely. The thought depressed me. I loved my job; it gave me a real thrill. However, I hardly wanted to be here with the team all Christmas.

I placed the plates down next to the sink.

"You want help washing up?" I asked but he just shook his head.

"Nah I'll be fine. It'll give me something to do." As he turned away from me, I saw Jack slip in. He held his fingers to his lips and crept closer to Ianto. I watched as he snaked an arm around his waist and Ianto jumped before turning to face him. I hurried out of the kitchen, leaving them together. But as I walked away, I felt something that I didn't want to. Was I jealous? I'd convinced myself that I wasn't in love with Jack and that I wasn't jealous of the relationship he now had with Ianto. But maybe I was.

Ianto's P.O.V

It had been nearly three hours since we'd got up, and we were all trying to adjust to being in the hub together. Jack had suggested that we did some work; an idea which Owen and Gwen both shot down within seconds. They argued that since we were stuck here, we weren't going to be able to go out and fight aliens. They also said that there was no way they were spending the next few days working. Jack had argued back that they would have been normally. It had escalated into a full scale row, and when Tosh had sided with the two, Jack had admitted defeat. This meant that we were all trying to find ways to fill our time. Jack had locked himself in his office and shut all the blinds and so I had no idea what he was doing. Gwen had gone off to have a long shower and Tosh was down in the basement fiddling with something. That left just Owen and me. He was pacing up and down with an aggravated look on his face.

"I'm not staying stuck in here!" he suddenly said, spinning to face me.

"Well it's not like we've got a lot of choice is it?" I glared back. As his eyes scanned the room, I knew that whatever he was planning would end in disaster. I watched as he made his way over to where the invisible lift was.

"Owen I don't think that using the lift is a good idea."

"Why not?" His hand slowly made its way to the large button that activated the lift.

"I really don't think you should do that." However he showed no signs of listening to me. The next few seconds seemed to happen in slow motion. I watched as Owen pressed the button and the lift began to come down. He grinned at me when suddenly a mountain of snow fell from the lift. He slammed on the button, sending the lift back up and preventing the snow from coming through, but it was too late as a large amount fell down. I laughed as the snow piled on top of him and he screamed. The lift came to a stop back at the top and Owen stood there covered in snow. I couldn't help but laugh at his white hair and his shivering figure. "I told you it wasn't a good idea."

"Oh don't you laugh at me Jones!" I stared as he grabbed a ball of snow and flung it at me. It hit me square in the chest and I simply stared at him as he laughed.

"You shouldn't have done that Harper!"

In a matter of seconds it had escalated into a full scale snowball fight between the two of us. A large amount of snow had come down from the lift and it was flying everywhere. I ducked as he flung a snowball at me and I heard a scream. I turned and saw Tosh standing there, the snowball having hit her in the face. The two of us froze as she wiped her face and stormed over to Owen.

"What the hell is going on?"

"Um…I kind of…um…I pressed the lift and all this snow came down. I didn't mean to hit you." She simply glared at him and I watched as she bent down, grabbed some snow and shoved it down his shirt. He screamed and threw some more back at her. Once again the fight was on.

Tosh's P.O.V

I hadn't planned on getting into the snowball fight, but it had just sort of happened. When the snowball had hit me in the face, I had had every intention of killing Owen. Sadly my inner child took over and I now found Ianto and Owen ganging up on me. 2 against 1 was hardly fair.

"Gwen!" I shouted as she appeared from the bathroom in fresh clothes, her hair still damp. She stared at the scene in front of her, the three of us soaked to the skin and snow everywhere. "Help me!" She grinned and bent to pick up some snow, which she flung at Ianto. He threw one back at her, which she managed to dodge.

"Bring it Jones!" she laughed, flinging snow at him and Owen.

Somehow an hour or two managed to pass without Jack realising that it was anarchy in the hub. The four of us were not only soaking wet, but we were also absolutely freezing. Everywhere was covered in snow and we'd been fighting all over the hub. I threw a snowball at Owen that missed him and hit the wall. He laughed and threw one back at me. It was at that moment that the door of Jack's office opened.

"What the fuck are you lot doing?" We all stopped and spun around to face our boss who was standing at the top of the stairs. He looked at the snow that coated the hub with utter dismay. "Where did this come from?"

"Owen tried to use the lift," Ianto muttered, blush rising in his cheeks. It was bad enough getting in trouble with your boss, let alone your boyfriend.

"And you thought that was a good idea Owen?" He slowly descended down the stairs and stood in the snow. "There is snow in the hub. Snow. In. The. Hub." It took me less than a second to register what he was about to do. I shifted out of the way as he made a snowball and flung it hard at Owen. He tried to dodge it, but was too slow, and it hit him hard in the chest. Once again, the fight was resumed.

Jack's P.O.V

It was dark and the entire team had passed out across the hub. The snowball fight had lasted hours and it had led to a large rush for the hot showers afterwards, with Owen suggesting it would be easier for us all just to share; an idea rejected by Gwen and Tosh. After that we had had to waste an hour trying to get rid of the piles of snow that were everywhere. I laughed as I thought back to the sight of the four of them stood there, soaking wet, standing in piles of snow. If I thought that being stuck with them was boring, I was wrong.

_A/N: Sorry this chapter has taken me a while to get up, but I've had coursework to do and I've just got a bit distracted. But I'm back now and here's a nice long chapter for you. I've got a plan for the next few chapters which two of my mates helped me come up with. There should be two more chapters and then an epilogue. I could slip in one more day but I think I'll make this a slightly shorter story. There was going to be another event in this chapter but it would have made this chapter ridiculously long and it would have taken me longer to do. I may add it in later though, we'll see._

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	4. Day 3

Owen's P.O.V

I grunted and rolled over, nearly falling off the small sofa that I was currently lying on. Jack had drawn up a rota for who was sleeping on the sofas when, coincidently leaving himself and Ianto off the list. I was certain that the two of them were curled up in bed together, and neither would be worried about not having enough room. I was hanging off the edge of one sofa and Gwen was splayed out on the other. This left poor old Tosh lying on the floor. Jack had supplied her with a pillow and two duvets but she looked immensely uncomfortable. She rolled over suddenly and her eyes flew open. She gasped at me before grinning.

"You scared me then. What are you doing?"

"About to fall off this sofa," I smiled at her. She was still half asleep and her eyes were heavy. Her hair was falling out from its ponytail and it looked like she had forgotten to take off her mascara last night.

"What time is it?" she yawned, sitting up slightly and pulling her hair free from its hold. I glanced down at the digital watch that I had fallen asleep wearing.

"Half 9," I muttered, yawning myself.

"We should probably get up," she said, shrugging off the duvet. I couldn't help but notice that she was wearing one of my t-shirts (that was much too big for her) and it had ridden up to give me a wonderful view of her legs. I stared at them for a few seconds, without being too obvious, before suddenly remembering that this was in fact Tosh that I was staring at. I turned away quickly and only looked back when she was standing up. The top was now resting just above her knees and it felt safe to look at her. She smiled shyly at me and offered me a hand to help me up.

"Thank," I muttered, grabbing hold of it. I stumbled up and felt a pain in my head. "Ow!" I placed a hand on the area that was throbbing. Suddenly the memories of the snowball fight came back to me and I remembered the heavy snowballs that had been flung at me.

"Well that's what you get for starting a snowball fight in the hub," she laughed at me.

"Um, excuse me! It was Ianto that started it."

"You let the snow in!" I simply shook my head at her and threw her the pair of jeans that were draped over the back of the sofa. "I believe these are yours." She caught them and held them up to her tiny waist.

"Yeah, they look a bit too small for you." As she grabbed the rest of her clothes and went to get changed, I realised that she had become much more confident around me. I didn't know what had caused the change but something had. Once she was all shy around me and seemed nervous to talk to me. Now she was laughing and joking with me. Maybe she was over her crush on me?

Suddenly a thought flew into my head that I didn't want there – 'How much would it suck if she was over her crush on me when I was getting one on her?' I shook my head and tried to stop thinking like that. I didn't fancy Tosh…I couldn't.

Ianto's P.O.V

I drummed my fingers on the meeting room table. Four of us were sat there feeling completely bored. It turned out, like we'd originally thought, that being stuck in the hub really wasn't that great. We'd had breakfast and even gone to the extent of actually doing some work. It said a lot when the Torchwood team reverted to work. I caught Jack's eye and he grinned at me. We'd spent the night together, hoping desperately that we didn't disturb the rest of the team. Thank god Jack's room was down that manhole.

I fingered the stopwatch that was resting in my right pocket. We'd been trying to find a time to slip away but we were going to have to wait until everyone else was distracted. Tosh was leaning on the table, her head resting on Owen's hoodie, and she was trying to fall asleep. Owen had taken to aiming small bits of paper at the wastepaper bin, and Gwen had gone to find something for us to do. I sighed, feeling immensely bored. At the moment however, the door opened and Gwen appeared, a grin on her face. Tosh jerked awake and Owen swore as she accidentally nudged him, causing his shot to miss the bin.

"I've found something for us to do," Gwen said, a triumphant tone in her voice. She looked like she had just come back from a long, dangerous trek to get us rations – not to find us something that would keep us entertained.

"What?" Jack asked. She pulled something out from behind her back, her grin getting wider. We all sat and stared at the dusty box with the faded lettering that was in her hand.

"I found it on top of the kitchen cupboards under a pile of papers."

"Why were you on top of the cupboards?" Jack asked continuing to stare at the game in her hand.

"Don't ask," she said, shaking her head. "So you guys want to play?"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Tosh ventured. We were all having vivid flashbacks to the last time we had played that game. It had not ended well at all. We'd last played over a year ago, long before Gwen arrived, and we'd put it up on the cupboards with a vow never to play again.

"Why ever not? Its just monopoly." Ah the time that we'd thought like that, before the vicious game.

"This scar," Owen said, pointing to small scar that was just above his left eyebrow, "was caused by Tosh and her little dog." Gwen merely stared at us confused.

"I had a bruise on my nose from where Owen hit me with his little car. It was there for a week," I chipped in.

"I lost a chunk of hair when Jack attacked me," Tosh said. "And Jack had a black eye from where Ianto hit him."

"I thought that we were never going to mention that again!" Jack muttered, sending her a dark look. I stifled a laugh when I remembered the hit I'd given him. He'd gone around for weeks, whining about how I'd ruined his looks. However I stopped the moment that he glared at me.

"You did all that from Monopoly?" We all nodded.

"We said we'd never play that again. We just get…"

"Vicious."

"Competitive."

"Mad."

"…Whenever we play. It's really not a good idea to play that with us…ever!" Tosh finished. We all winced as we remembered the last time we'd played. We'd started out fine, but we'd slowly become more competitive as the game went on. By the end of it we were all nursing injuries and made a vow not to touch it.

"Oh come on! I bet you're all just over exaggerating what happened. We've got nothing else to do so we're playing." She slammed the box down on the table sending particles of dust everywhere. She sat in the vacant seat next to me and yanked the lid off. We all sighed and accepted defeat. She was going to learn soon enough that you just don't play Monopoly with us.

She began to take all the pieces out and laid them out on the board.

"Who wants to be banker?"

"Not Ianto!" Jack suddenly yelled.

"Well maybe you shouldn't have tried to snatch the money from me. Then I wouldn't have had to hit you," I said raising my eyebrows at him. I let myself look at him for a moment longer than was necessary before turning back to the others.

"Fine. Tosh you can do it." She simply nodded and took the money off Gwen.

"Don't let Owen have the car," I muttered to her, loudly enough for him to hear.

"Yeah well don't let Toshiko have the dog either." She spun to look at him.

"I wouldn't have attacked you with it if you weren't taking my hotels away." I watched the two of them as they stared at each other for slightly too long. They could both deny it, but they both fancied each other. I shook my head slightly and caught Jack's eye.

'If I win, I get full control of the stopwatch,' he mouthed to me and I winked back at him. This game was going to get very interesting.

Gwen's P.O.V

It had been an hour since we'd started playing and I definitely knew why they had vowed never to play this again. I'd thought I was competitive when I played, but I didn't even come close to them. Jack had demanded Tosh stopped being banker and had taken on the role for himself. She'd refused at first and he'd hit her on the head with his little playing piece. Owen had laughed at her and she'd hit him so hard that he'd fallen off his chair. He now had a bruise on his arm and his hip apparently. He'd nearly made a comment about getting her to kiss it better, but the look she'd given him had shut him up. Ianto had slowly been messing with Jack's hotels and had also ended up making sure that he had gone to jail 3 times. Also at some point it had become strip monopoly. Every time you landed on a square that someone else owned, you had to remove a garment of clothing. I had lost my shoes, jeans and hoodie and Ianto had lost his shoes and suit. Tosh was still wearing her jeans and top but both Jack and Owen were wearing nothing but boxers. Somehow I had a feeling that we were never going to play this game again.

"Tosh just roll the bloody dice!" Jack shouted at her as their argument about whether he should be in jail or not, came to an end.

"Fine," she glared at him. She rolled a 5 and moved forward. She landed on Leicester Square and Owen grinned triumphantly.

"Firstly Sato, that's 30 please. Secondly you have to remove an item of clothing," he smirked. She sighed and handed him the three 10 notes and yanked off her top, revealing a very nice black lace bra. I tried not to laugh as I saw Owen's face, something that she hadn't noticed. He suddenly caught my eye and his face changed to its normal cocky expression.

"That was my square!" Ianto shouted suddenly, gesturing to where Jack had just landed. It seemed that Jack had landed on one of the squares Ianto owned. However, instead of taking off his boxers, he had moved Ianto's houses round and nicked the card.

"Well I have the card for it!" he winked.

"You cheated Jack," Tosh chipped in. Suddenly the whole thing seemed to escalate into a row with way too much shouting. Jack shoved his chair back and stood up, trying to look boss-like while only wearing his boxers.

"WE ARE NOT PLAYING ANYMORE!"

"I agree! Jack's just a big cheat!"

"Me! You just don't remember what you own and what you don't."

"I owned Piccadilly Circus!"

"I did!"

"He did!"

"Thank you!"

"Oh don't gang up on me!" I sighed and pulled my jeans back on, while Owen just sat there looking amused. However at that moment, Jack pushed Tosh backwards and she flung an arm out to steady herself. Sadly, instead of grabbing a chair, she hit Owen hard in the face.

"Ow! Shit!" He shouted. She stood up straight and turned to face him, apologising profusely. His nose was bleeding and he pinched the bridge to try and stop it from doing so.

"Lean your head back," Tosh muttered, trying to resolve the problem.

"Okay. Well we're definitely not playing anymore," Ianto announced, pulling on his suit jacket. As him and Jack put their clothes back on, and a half-dressed Tosh tried to deal with the near-naked Owen's nosebleed, I began to pack up the game. Now I was clear as to why Torchwood didn't play this game. They were violent and competitive. Oh and ruthless cheats. I sighed and grabbed the game to make my way back to the kitchen to put it back on top of the cupboards.

Tosh's P.O.V

Nearly two hours had passed since we'd finished playing the game. Owen was walking around grumbling about the fact that his nose now had a bruise on it. I'd already told him that I was sorry, but he now seemed to just be seeking attention. All of us were sat at our PCs, so bored that we had resorted to sorting out our old case files. Suddenly, as I gazed at the calendar that was on my desk, something hit me.

"You know, it's only three days until Christmas." The rest of the team turned to look at me.

"It can't be," Gwen muttered.

"We got snowed in here on the 20th and it's now the 22nd."

"We're going to be here for Christmas, I just know it," she said despondently. She was depressed because she'd tried to call Rhys earlier and it turned out that sometime yesterday, our phone lines had died. Thus she had no way of getting through to him.

"I've got an idea," I said. We needed something to cheer everyone up after that terrible game and also since we were all so depressed about being stuck here.

"What?"

"How about Secret Santa?" My idea was met with silence to begin with until Gwen and Ianto both grinned.

"Yeah! And since we'd only be able to use stuff in here, it would be more challenging," Ianto smiled. Gwen nodded and even Jack seemed to show a like for the idea.

"Secret Santa? Isn't that what you do in primary school?" Owen said, rolling his eyes at the idea. I spun around in my chair to face him and tried to not laugh at his moody face.

"No. It's something nice to do. We've not got anything to do anyway. It'll keep us busy and you'll get a present. Plus you get to give someone else one which is a nice thing." He appeared to consider the idea of giving a present, or more likely, receiving one.

"Fine."

The five of us collected on sofa and I grabbed a piece of paper and pen.

"Right. We've got to write everyone's name down and then pick one at random. You're not allowed to tell anyone who you've got because that's part of the surprise. Then tomorrow we'll exchange presents." Everyone nodded and I began to write the names down.

"So can we get them anything?" Owen asked and I nodded.

"But don't get them anything crappy," Gwen interjected.

"As if I would do that," he smirked and we all just rolled our eyes. I finished screwing up the scraps of paper and placed them on the table.

"Okay pick one. But if anyone gets themselves then we'll do it again." We grabbed a piece of paper of the table and opened them. There was silence as everyone read the name that I had written down.

"What do we do now?" Jack asked as he screwed the piece of paper back up and stuffed it in his pocket.

"Try and get them a present I guess." We nodded.

"Hold on wait. So we can get them anything we can find as long as it's decent?"

"Yep," Ianto replied.

"From anywhere in here?" he added.

"Yep." Then at the moment I had an idea. I stood up and noticed the others doing the same. The five of us began to make our way over to the tunnel that led to the small tourist shop. It sold a range of touristy items and gifts.

"Stop!" Jack suddenly shouted and we froze. "Nothing from the gift shop. It's got to come from the hub." I sighed, as did the others and we moved away. My brain frantically began to run through ideas of what I could buy. Gwen was the only other girl here but I didn't exactly know her that well. She was quite girly, I knew that much. Her and I were opposites and so everything that I liked, she wouldn't. She was really nice and I thought of her as a friend, it was just that we didn't have anything in common aside from this place. I sat down in my chair and sighed. Every idea that came into my head just wasn't suitable. What could I get her that she'd actually like? I wanted to get her something that she'd really like, not just pretend to.

Jack's P.O.V

Oh great, of all the people in the group, I had to get Owen. Owen Harper who was sarcastic, arrogant and immensely cocky. I couldn't imagine the team without him, and I wouldn't want to, but he was…he was a tricky person to buy for. He wouldn't appreciate anything that was bought for him and probably would complain about it. I had a sinking feeling that even if it was the best gift ever, he'd still complain so he could be annoying. I slowly made my way up to my office to try and find something that would at least partially please him.

Ianto's P.O.V

I wandered into the kitchen as I tried to find something that I could use for this Secret Santa. When Tosh had suggested it, I had thought that it was a great idea. However now I wasn't so sure. I began to rack my brains for exactly what I could buy for Jack. Just great, I had to get him. He was picky and would probably take the piss out of whatever I bought him. It couldn't be too intimate because that would just be plain weird. I could hardly give him something romantic in front of the team. What could I give him that was intimate and that showed I cared for him, but that wasn't too intimate? Oh and as a bonus, it had to be in the hub.

Gwen's P.O.V

Oh what the hell was I meant to get Ianto? Ianto was the quiet one who was always there helping us. He'd come out of his shell more but not enough so I'd know what he'd actually want. Jack could probably tell me but we weren't allowed to ask others for advice. I slumped down in my desk and tried to rack my brain for a suitable idea. Sadly everything that came into my head just sucked. I leant my head on the desk and tried to come up with some form of decent idea that I could actually use. What would Ianto want?

Owen's P.O.V

As I wandered down into the autopsy bay, I stared at the small piece of paper in my hand. There in her own slanted handwriting was Tosh's name. Fuck. It would have to be me that would get Tosh. It wasn't that I had a problem with her, quite the opposite. Just what was I supposed to get her. It had to be something that she'd really like, but more than that, it had to show I cared for her. But not in a way that was too obvious. I wanted to show her that I was starting to feel feelings that were more than friendly, but at the same time I didn't want to have to show her completely. Oh fuck.

A/N: Next chapter! Woot! The Secret Santa was an idea two of my friends and I came up with on the bus when I needed an idea of what to do in this chapter. We spent forever coming up with who would have who and exactly what they'd get each other. Next chapter will feature the exchange of the presents so you'll find out what everyone bought each other.

I wanted to do a little drabble for each of them at the end on who they're buying for. Since this fic features the TW team and how they work together, rather than them fighting aliens, I wanted to give a little insight into how they feel about each other. I get the impression that some are slightly closer than others e.g. I don't see Gwen and Ianto being that close.

Please review and tell me what you thought. I can't believe all the reviews this story has got. Oh and in your review please leave a suggestion for what you think they'd buy each other. I've already got a list of what they're going to give, but it'd be good to see what others think. Oh and if anyone manages to guess any of the presents right then they'll get a mention in the story :D (if more than one person guesses a present right then there may be many mentions)

If I've planned this right then there will be 1 more chapter and then the epilogue.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed:

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And to everyone who has taken the time to read this story


	5. Day 4

Gwen's P.O.V

I sat at my computer station and stared at the small clock that was in the right-hand corner:

_09:38_

I'd been sat here, staring at it, for the past 38 minutes. I was waiting for inspiration to strike me and so far, it hadn't. I'd been watching everyone else as they tried to organise their presents. Jack had gone down to basement about 20 minutes ago and had come back carrying something that was wrapped in his coat. He'd disappeared into his office and hadn't reappeared yet. Ianto had spent his time making everyone coffee and toast and so I had formed the assumption that he was lucky enough to have sorted his present out. Tosh was sat at her PC and was fiddling with something but I couldn't tell what. She hadn't touched the coffee that Ianto had given her half an hour ago and I could guess that it was now stone cold. Owen had been wandering around the hub and appeared to have no idea as to what to give his person as a present. It looked like him and I were in the same boat.

I began to spin around on my chair, gazing around the vast hub for inspiration. There had to be something here that I could give to Ianto and that he'd really like. I just sadly had no idea what that wonderful thing could be. I'd come up with a tonne of ideas and had rejected every single one of them. Though it was just a silly secret Santa, it was important and it was something that was keeping us busy. I sighed and stopped spinning. I had to get him something and I knew that Ianto would be polite, no matter what it was. However that just wasn't good enough, I wanted to give him something that he would honestly appreciate. I took to staring at the small clock again that now told me that it was 20 to ten. That meant that there was one hour and 20 minutes until we were going to exchange presents.

I stood up and wandered over in the direction of the small locker rooms and showers that were contained in the hub. There was a very slim chance that there was something he would like in there. It was immensely unlikely but I luck could be on my side.

I stopped in front of my small metal locker and typed in the combination code that I'd been given on my first day. I yanked it opened and stared inside the tiny, dark locker. There was an array of items but nothing jumped out at me and shouted 'this would be perfect for Ianto.' I began to route through the mess – half a bottle of 'Delicious' perfume, an old copy of Jane Eyre, a broken gun, a voucher for a free sandwich at Subway, a bottle of dark red nail varnish – it was all a load of rubbish, or at least stuff that I couldn't give Ianto. I had a distinct feeling that he wouldn't appreciate a copy of Jane Eyre and a free sandwich, no matter how much he smiled about it. As I continued to rifle through the pile of stuff that I had shoved in there, I suddenly saw something. I grabbed hold of it and pulled it out. I held it in my hands and stared at it, a smile forming on my face. This would be perfect for Ianto. I knew that he'd love it and really treasure it. I grinned and began to make my way back to my desk, trying to figure out if I could find something to make it even better.

As I sat at my desk and saw that it was nearly 10 o'clock, I smiled. I had my present for Ianto – finally.

Jack's P.O.V

I stared at the item that lay on my desk with a mixture of bewilderment and happiness. Part of me knew that it was completely and utterly Owen, but at the same time, I was confused as to why on earth I thought it was a good idea for a present. I'd been trying to come up with what I could give him for ages. I'd lain in bed, long after Ianto had fallen asleep, racking my brains for something decent. It wasn't that I even cared that much, I just wanted to make sure it was something good. It seemed that everyone else was going to a lot of effort and therefore I had to at least try. So this morning I had headed down to the basement and had tried to find something that Owen would like. I had figured that it wouldn't be too hard to give him something that he would at least kind of enjoy. When I'd seen it, I had decided that that was exactly it and had smuggled it through the hub and up here. Except when it was lying on my desk, I wasn't so sure. It was hardly original or even creative – though that wasn't really me. It was…practical. Yeah it was practical and practical was good. Anyway, he would have to appreciate it since I was his boss and so he'd have to like whatever it was that I gave him as a present. Even Owen could realise that I could easily fire him with the click of my fingers. I grinned satisfied that he would have no choice but to love my gift.

Just then there was a knock at the door and I grabbed my coat, flinging it over the object that lay on the desk.

"Come in," I shouted and the door opened. Ianto appeared holding a fresh cup of coffee.

"I thought you might want a drink sir," he said, placing the mug next to my coat. I mentally rolled my eyes at the sir. He turned to make his way back into the hub. "Oh Tosh told me to remind you that we're giving presents in one hour." With that he left, closing the door behind him and I couldn't help but let my eyes slip down to his bum. As the door shut, I grinned and leant back in my chair, picking up the cup of coffee that he had given me. I took a sip and yanked the coat off Owen's present once again. I stared at it and decided that it would be good enough. It was random to say the least. So I'd got him a random and practical present. That was good right?

Ianto's P.O.V

I grinned as I made my way back down the narrow staircase that led to Jack's office. I was acutely aware of the fact that he had been staring at my ass as I left and that fact amused me. I sighed and scanned around the hub, watching everyone working. Gwen was sat by her computer and her look of despair had now been replaced with a smile. Tosh was still bent over her desk, brows furrowed and a look of concentration upon her face. I noted that the cup of coffee I had given her nearly 40 minutes ago still hadn't been touched. I wandered over to her and as my shadow fell over her work, she flung her arms around it protectively and hid it from my view. She looked up at me and gave a sigh of relief.

"Oh it's you Ianto. What do you want?" She was still protecting whatever it was she was working on and I smirked slightly.

"I just came to grab your coffee since you haven't touched it." She nodded and looked expectantly at me. I sighed slightly and grabbed the cold mug off her desk. I shot her a smile and made my way in the direction of the kitchen. When I turned to look back, I saw that she had already resumed her original position.

I pushed open the kitchen door to find Owen routing through one of the cupboards. I got a strange sense of déjà vu from our first morning that we were stuck in here. Thankfully this time there was a lack of pots and pans on the floor.

"Can I help you?" I asked, placing Tosh's mug on the sideboard. Owen spun around to look at me, a look of surprise on his face. I quickly gathered that he had been routing for something to give as his surprise present.

"I was just looking for some…" I stared at the bottle of ketchup that he was holding.

"Ketchup? Hardly a great present is it?" He glared at me and stuffed it back in the cupboard.

"What makes you think I was looking for a present? I don't care about this stupid Secret Santa thing." With that, he slammed the cupboard shut and stormed past me. I shook my head and looked around the now empty kitchen. I couldn't help but wonder exactly what Owen had thought he could find in the kitchen cupboards. I didn't think any of us would appreciate receiving ketchup as a present. I laughed slightly and flicked on the kettle to make another round of coffee.

I'd already come up with Jack's present, I was just hoping that he'd like it. I'd come up with only a little while after Tosh suggested the idea of secret Santa and it was perfect. I hadn't wanted to give him something that was too…intimate. However the thing I'd got him was something that was special to him and I, but no one else. It had been our private thing and it comforted me that everyone else would just see it as a slightly odd present.

As the kettle boiled and I began to locate the different mugs for everyone, I realised that for the first time in a long time, I was happy. After Lisa had died, I'd felt ostracised from the team because I'd put them all in so much danger. Even before that, long before I came to Torchwood, I'd never felt like I fitted in that much. I was always a bit of a loner and yet here I was with four of the best people. Some of them annoyed the hell out of me, but the five of us just seemed to fit. I felt like…not that I belonged, because that was just cheesy, but that I had a place where I was welcome; somewhere that I fitted in.

Owen's P.O.V

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. There were 50 more minutes until we exchanged presents and I had no fucking idea what to get Tosh. Ianto had already caught me rooting through the kitchen cupboards, though I had no idea what I expected to find there. So I had ended up in the autopsy bay feeling immensely depressed. I don't normally do Christmas, I've had no reason to. Since mum chucked me out at 16, I've spent every Christmas getting drunk and shagging some random girl who was as drunk as me. I didn't see the point in doing something important on the big day. Christmas is a time for family and since mine hated my guts, it didn't really matter to me at all. Yet now here I was, snowed in and wondering what to buy for the girl I most definitely wasn't attracted to. I'd never felt that much for Tosh before, she was always just a friend, but now when we'd been thrown together, I'd suddenly started seeing her in a different light. I was attracted to her and I…well I felt something that I hadn't before. I groaned and kicked the cart that held my medical tools, in annoyance. I hated fucking Christmas and stupid presents.

As I looked around the bay, I knew that Tosh was going to treasure this present. She was like that. You gave her something and she clung onto it forever. I could remember how she had been the day after we'd kissed at Christmas. She'd been so happy and then I'd come in and treated her…well I treated her badly. I could still remember her face falling and her trying to cover up her disappointment. God I was a bastard. But I knew that this present was going to mean as much to her as the kiss did, maybe even more. Normally I wouldn't care about this sort of thing, but I couldn't help but want to get her something decent. What the hell was I meant to find in the hub though? I imagined her face when I handed her a scalpel – definitely not. I rapped my fingers on the cold surface and tried to come up with some form of an idea. I could do something on the computers for her, except I sucked at all IT things. I was also hopeless at anything that was remotely romantic, though what I could come up with in the hub I didn't know. Cooking was way down on my list of skills, right below cleaning.

Then it hit me. I raced up the small stairs and across the hub, skidding around Ianto who was carrying a tray of coffee.

"Owen! Your coffee!" he shouted back and I spun around to grab my mug of hot coffee. With that I went running across the hub, not bothering to shout a thanks over my shoulder. I came to a halt by my locker and I quickly typed in the code – 2701. I yanked open the door and stared at the mess that was hidden behind the metal door. Shit, when did I last clean this out? I rifled through the piles of rubbish that I'd chucked in here without thinking. It was lying right at the bottom, under everything else, wrapped in a black addidas bag. I grabbed it and made my way up the stairs, accidentally leaving my mug of coffee on top of the lockers.

I descended back into the autopsy bay, taking note of Gwen's shout that we had thirty minutes left. I dropped into the chair that I had been sitting on and pulled it out of the old bag. I'd had it for the past two years and I'd always refused to wear it because it was so special. I'd got it at a Man U vs. Arsenal game that I'd gone to with Tosh after her dad had got her tickets, unaware of her dislike for football. I hadn't been able to resist going since I was a huge Arsenal supporter. I had been since I was 5 and my dad took me to a game. Her and I had gone along and screamed our heads off every time that they'd scored. Of course the best part had been what had happened afterwards and that was why it was so special. I grinned and stuffed it back into the bag. I knew she would appreciate it, especially since it was so special to me. Part of me didn't want to part with it, but I wanted to get her something that was important to me, and this was. I leant back in my chair, only to be disturbed by Ianto appearing over the balcony holding my mug.

"Why was this on top of the lockers?" Fuck.

Tosh's P.O.V

I stared down at the mess that littered my desk. Glancing at my watch I saw that there were only ten more minutes until we were going to give out the presents. Why did I set a time limit? I groaned and got back to my work. I felt like I was diffusing a bomb and time was just ticking away. I had had the idea for Gwen's present last night and I'd gotten up early to get started on it. I had known it would be tricky, but I hadn't expected it to be this hard. Everyone on the team called me a technological genius but I sadly didn't feel like one right now. I'd started working on this nearly five hours ago and I had a feeling that I was nearly there, but not quite. I groaned and reached for the coffee Ianto had left me five minutes ago. As the hot liquid poured down my throat, I realised that this was the first drink I'd had all day. I also heard my stomach rumbled as it reminded me that it hadn't been fed today. I was tempted to see if Ianto would make me some toast but as the clock showed me that I now had five minutes left, I knew that it was pointless. Fiddling with it a bit more, I placed the back on and crossed my fingers that this would work. As I stood up to go and test it, I noticed the other four staring at me. They'd all sorted out their presents and were taking a break.

"Finally done Tosh?" Jack asked, raising his eyebrows at me. "You've been working for hours."

"Must be for someone special," Gwen added. I simply glared at the group and made my way into the kitchen. I had a feeling that everyone assumed that I had got Owen since I was putting so much effort into the present, not Gwen. I sighed and shut the door firmly behind me.

I hopped up onto the small counter and stared at the phone that was in my hand. I prayed that this would work and I typed in my own home phone number. I raised the small Nokia phone to my ear and I couldn't help but beam as I heard the familiar dialling tone. After a few seconds my answer phone clicked on.

"Hi, I'm not at home right now, but please leave a message after the tone and I'll get back to you." I hung up before the tone came on and I stuffed the phone in my pocket. It had worked. I'd actually done it.

Just then there was a banging on the kitchen door.

"Come on Tosh! It's 11. It's not our fault if you haven't finished." Owen. I rolled my eyes and pushed open the door.

"I'm done," I said and I made my way over to the meeting room where everyone was already sat. I took my seat opposite Gwen and next to Ianto. Owen followed me in and sat down next to Gwen.

"Who is going first then?" Jack asked. There was a silence and no one showed any sign of volunteering. Finally Gwen sighed.

"Fine. I'll do it." We all grinned and leant forward slightly, wondering which of us she had. "Okay so I had Ianto." He smiled at her and looked surprised as she pulled out something that was wrapped in newspaper. "Here you go, I hope you like it." We waited as he unwrapped the present and I watched as his face changed to a broad grin.

"What is it?" I asked and he held up her present. It was a framed photo of all us. I remembered Gwen getting a random guy who had been walking past to take it. We'd just finished an alien hunt and Jack had suggested we had a break. We'd gone for a walk in the local park and Gwen had had her camera with her. She'd demanded she get a photo of all of us, something we'd all complained about. She'd accosted a man who'd been out walking and forced him to take the photo. Jack had his arms wrapped around Gwen and me. Ianto and Owen were either side of us and we were all grinning stupidly. I couldn't help but remember that a week later Mary had arrived. I also noticed that Jack's hand was resting on Ianto's arm and that Owen had his arm around Gwen's waist. Even that picture had things hidden behind it.

"Where did you get this Gwen?" Ianto asked, staring up from the picture.

"I found it in my locker and the frame was something that my mum got me for Christmas ages ago. I hated in the picture in it and I thought you'd like it. You do don't you?"

"I love it," he said, giving her a genuine a grin. "Thank you Gwen. I'll keep it on my desk." I could tell that Ianto really appreciated it, he just wasn't that great at saying it.

"Okay. Ianto's turn," Gwen announced.

Ianto's P.O.V

I smiled down at the photo that Gwen had given me. I realised that it had been taken at the point that I'd started to feel like I fitted in. We all had these big grins on our faces, and I could still remember how Jack's hand felt, stroking my arm.

"Okay. Ianto's turn," I heard Gwen say. I sighed and placed the photo back in the newspaper. I could tell that she'd put effort into getting me the right gift and I was really grateful for that. I just hoped Jack felt the same with my present. I rooted in my pocket for the white box that I'd been carrying around.

"I had Jack," I muttered, grabbing hold of the box. I couldn't help but notice the looks that flew around the table as I said that. I was hardly surprised that they knew we were sleeping together, we hadn't exactly been subtle about it over the past few days. I placed the box on the table and slid it over to him. "It's not much, but I mean it had to come from the hub so…" I held by breath as he opened the box, praying that he would get the significance. I watched as his face lit up and he started to laugh.

"What is it?" Gwen asked, peering to try and see. Jack pulled it out and showed it to everyone.

"You got him a stopwatch?" Owen asked, confusion evident in his tone.

"Yep," I said, catching Jack's eye. He winked at me and sent me a grin.

"Well a stopwatch can always come in handy. There are plenty of things you can do with a stopwatch. I'm sure I can come up with something," he smirked at me.

"I'm sure you can sir," I replied. I was desperately trying not to laugh at the others faces. They had no idea what the two of us were talking about. Maybe they weren't completely aware as to what we got up to.

"Well I'll tell you if I have an ideas." I bit my lip and swallowed down the comment I wanted to make. Something told me that it wouldn't be appropriate.

He placed the old stopwatch back in the box that I'd found. "Thanks Ianto. It's exactly what I wanted." He winked at me once more before turning to the group. "Okay so it's my turn then."

Jack's P.O.V

I couldn't believe that Ianto had given me the stopwatch. I tried not to laugh at the others faces as they tried to figure out what on earth we were talking about. I placed it back in its small box, already trying to figure when Ianto and I could slip away to put it to good use. The more I got to know him, the more I realised that Ianto wasn't as innocent as he seemed.

"Thanks Ianto. It's exactly what I wanted." I caught his eye and winked at him. "Okay so it's my turn then," I said. I had a distinct feeling that Owen wasn't going to be that impressed with my present. I placed it on my lap and stared at the expectant group. "I had Owen." I watched the group and realised they were trying to figure out what I'd got him. "Here you go." I picked it up and slid it across to him. It stopped right in front of him and he just sat there and stared at it. I smirked at him as he picked it up and examined it.

"You got me a gun? A gun?" I nodded at him.

"You got a problem with that?"

"A gun?" he said, the confusion clear in both his voice and on his face.

"What's wrong with that? It's practical," I defended.

"And completely random," Tosh added.

"And…?" Owen shook his head slightly and grinned at me.

"Thanks Jack. Seriously, I probably would have got myself a gun. At least it's not something that is ridiculously Christmassy," he grinned at me. He placed the gun back down on the table. "Thanks Jack."

Owen's P.O.V

I placed the gun down on the table and thanked Jack again. I actually appreciated that he hadn't gone and got me something that was overtly cheesy or Christmassy. I grinned at him and stared at the gun. I mean it was pretty weird to buy someone a gun for Christmas, but in my strange world I appreciated it.

"How can you be thankful he got you a gun?" Gwen asked me, looking at me incredulously.

"I don't do Christmas so I like the fact that he got me something completely un-Christmassy."

"You're an odd man Harper," Gwen muttered. "Come on then, give Tosh her present."

"How did you know I had Tosh?"

"Well since Tosh and I are the only ones who haven't got one yet, and I've already give Ianto a present, you have to have to give one Tosh." I nodded at her logic and rooted under the table for the bag. I slung it across the table to her, trying to look casual about it. "Here you go," I muttered. She gave me a small smile and pulled it out of the bag. As she held it up, I watched as she realised what it was and her small smile became a huge grin.

"Oh my god Owen! You're giving me your shirt?"

"Yeah well I thought that – "

"You're giving her a football shirt?" Gwen asked, interrupting me. "Owen you could have got her a decent present. Tosh doesn't even like football."

"Gwen!" Tosh muttered, glaring at her. "Owen I can't have this. You've treasured this since you got it. You can't just give it to me."

"Well I wanted to get you something special and this was what I could find. It was this or a scalpel."

"What's so special about a shirt?" Gwen still seemed to be confused as to why I'd given Tosh an Arsenal shirt.

"Owen and I went to see an Arsenal vs. Man U game a couple of years back," Tosh explained. He was wearing this shirt and at the end, we got delayed leaving because two guys had been fighting and we had to explain what had happened. Anyway as we were going, the Arsenal team were getting back on their bus to go to the hotel. Owen managed to get Thierry Henry to sign his shirt – this shirt." She turned back to me. "Owen I really can't have this. It's really special to you." I could take it back, I mean I wasn't giving it up easily. It had meant the world to me getting Henry's autograph. Was I really going to give it away to Tosh?

"I want you to have it. It's yours now." She grinned at me and hugged the shirt to her chest.

"Oh my god! Thanks Owen," she said. I caught her eye and the two of us smiled at each other. I hoped that she knew that the shirt was special to me and that it meant a lot that I was giving it to her. I watched as she placed it back in the bag, a slight blush on her cheeks.

"Come on then, final present."

Tosh's P.O.V

I barely heard Jack telling me that it was my turn. I couldn't believe that Owen had given me his prize possession – his signed Arsenal shirt. I could remember how happy he'd been when he'd got it. He'd talked the whole way back to Cardiff about the fact that he'd met Henry and had his shirt signed. It didn't mean much to me, football was just men kicking a ball around. Owen had been like an excited child though. Now he was giving me the shirt. That had to mean something right? I mean it was the best thing he owned and he wanted me to have it.

"Right Tosh, your turn. This better be good, you spent long enough on it." I shook myself from my analysis on whether Owen's gift meant anything and I located my present for Gwen.

"I hope you like it," I smiled and I handed her over the old mobile phone. She stared at it and I watched her plaster on a fake smile.

"Oh thanks Tosh. It's what I've always wanted – a classic phone. I'm sure it'll come in…useful."

"Classic? That phone hasn't been made in the past five years," Owen chipped in. "This is what you were working on? An old phone?"

"You do remember they don't work down here?" Jack added and Ianto simply stared at it. I rolled my eyes.

"Sometimes you guys are too slow for your own good. I've fixed it so it can work down here. I've already tested it. You can phone anywhere in the UK on it or I guess in Gwen's case, she can call home." This time Gwen's smile was genuine and she stood up to come and give me hug.

"Tosh! Thank you so much!"

"I figured you'd be dying to speak to Rhys," I said as she released me from a tight hug.

"I've missed him so much. Thank you!" With that she raced from the room, already dialling her home phone number.

"You really are a genius Sato," Jack laughed. "Now I remember why I hired you." I grinned at him and stared out of the room and over at Gwen who was on the phone to Rhys, chatting animatedly.

The meeting room fell into silence, the sound of Gwen speaking in Welsh drifting in. Suddenly she gave a large squeal and came flying in, the phone clamped to her chest.

"Rhys says we should look outside. Apparently the snow has been melting throughout the night." The five of us began to race to the tourist shop so we could get to the nearest window. I heard Gwen telling Rhys she loved him and hanging up the phone. We entered the shop and all of us gathered round the tiny window that was covered in frost. The city, that had once been brilliant white, was now visible again. The snow was still there, but only an inch or two thick and there were already people wandering around. I could hear the sound of a snowplough heading closer to us. We were free.

General P.O.V

The team stood around the window, the realisation hitting them that they could finally leave the hub. Jack had wandered over to the door and he pulled it open, a small amount of snow falling around his feet. The cold air blew into the shop and the noise of the city filled the room. They could hear the chatter of people who were appreciating the fact they could leave their houses. He shut the door again and gestured for the team to make their way back into the hub.

"So I guess we can go then?" Owen said, the first to volunteer the fact that they could leave.

"Yep." The team didn't seem so eager to leave as they had the night they'd got stuck there. They all made their way to where they had left their coats and scarves four days ago. All of them, except Jack, began to dress for the cold weather – coats, scares, gloves and hats. There was silence as they dressed, all slightly apprehensive of what was to come. None of them were willing to admit that they had bonded in their time, but they had. People who hadn't been as close were now closer, and everyone knew each other better. It was like they'd become a group beyond their work.

They all began to make their way to the meeting room to grab the presents that they'd left there. It felt weird that they could just grab their bags and go. They were used to waking up and going to sleep in the hub, it had been the pattern for the past few days. Now they were returning to reality, well their own distorted version of it.

As they hoisted bags onto shoulders and took last sips of lukewarm coffee, they were almost visibly dragging their feet. For all but one, they were returning to a lonely flat with no one waiting for them. Even Jack, who was staying in the hub, would be all alone. None of them, except Gwen, seemed to welcome the return.

They made their way into the small shop and opened the wooden door, all of them hit by the winter air.

"So I guess this is it then?" Tosh said, her gloved hands clutching the black addidas bag.

"Yep. Time to return to the real world." They all nodded, none willing to admit that they'd miss each other. They slowly made their way outside and blinked at the fresh sunlight. They couldn't help but shiver at the cold winds and the snow around their feet.

"Well I better head back to my flat. My sister's meant to be coming tomorrow," Ianto said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah and Rhys is waiting for me. I just want to see him again," Gwen added.

"I need to call my aunt and see if there's any way I can get to Japan for Christmas. I've still got a week's holiday," Tosh chipped in.

"And I'm going to go back to my cold flat and feel depressed," Owen smirked. Tosh gave him a small hug and whispered something about being there if he needed her.

"Well I've got to get that hub tidied up and ready for work. It's definitely not a good idea having five people sleeping there," Jack laughed. "Why don't you lot take the next three days off. Come back after Boxing Day. I'm sure we're all sick of the hub." They all nodded, not totally keen on the idea. However they weren't stupid enough to give up days off. With that the team broke apart, muttered goodbyes, and headed in their separate directions. Jack headed back into the tourist shop, locking the door behind him. Gwen made her way north in the direction of the flat she shared with Rhys. Ianto went west towards his small apartment that overlooked the park. Owen began to walk east to get to his apartment that overlooked the river. Tosh slowly went south to her modern flat with the crazy landlord that she hated. All of them split apart and went their separate ways, ignoring the fact that a part of them wished they were still together and snowed in.

A/N: Well that's the last chapter with them being stuck in the hub. There is still the epilogue to come, but then that will be it.

I hope everyone liked this chapter (I'll do a proper long A/N at the end of the epilogue) and the presents. It wasn't that easy coming up with presents they could locate in the hub.

Well done to bacchae who guessed that Ianto would give Jack the stopwatch – there will be a mention of them in the epilogue.

The epilogue with be quite romantic (warning to the people who hate that) and will look at Christmas Eve for the team. It'll be Gwen/Rhys and them being reunited and then Jack/Ianto and Tosh/Owen. It'll mainly be the latter two couples and especially the last one. Plus you may find out why there was a freak snowstorm over Cardiff (if I can fit it in).

Thanks to everyone who reviewed last chapter. I would list but there are way too many. I shall do a full list of every reviewer at the end of the prologue.


	6. Epilogue

General P.O.V

It seemed like all of Cardiff was fast asleep. The normally bustling city was dark and silent and the lonely streets were deserted. It seemed that everyone was in their homes with their families. Christmas Eve had been spent adjusting to the fact that Cardiff had been practically buried alive. Families had been rushing to buy the food that they'd need to get through Christmas, and there were a number of men loitering in the various shops on the high street. Now though, the city had fallen into a peaceful slumber as children dreamt of Father Christmas, and adults breathed a sigh of relief at their freedom. Some adults however were still trying to adjust to the fact that they were free.

Gwen's P.O.V

I stood at the window and stared out across the city. It was quiet with only the odd car driving past our window. The light from the streetlamp was lighting up our small living room, and I prayed that it wouldn't wake Rhys. I could hear the faint snores coming from our bedroom and it confirmed that he was fast asleep. The moment I'd returned to the flat, he had embraced me in a hug. He'd been so worried about me apparently, especially when he couldn't get in contact when the phones were down. I'd felt so safe when he'd hugged me and it suddenly felt like we'd gone back to the start of our relationship. It was like all the rows, the secrets…the affair, none of it had happened. He'd pampered me all day and we'd tumbled into bed together, appreciating the fact that we were together again.

I glanced at the clock that was resting on the wooden table and I saw that it was one minute past midnight – Christmas Day. Instinctively, I gazed up at the sky and for a minute, I expected to see a sleigh rushing across the night sky. I laughed silently and resumed staring out at Cardiff. It felt so strange that just over 24 hours ago, I'd been snowed in under the city. Now I was free again.

I leant my head against the cool, frosted pain and breathed out on the glass. I watched as it became fogged over and I raised a finger to draw on the mist. I absently drew 'Gwen loves Rhys' without even realising. I smiled when I saw what I'd doodled. Before the snow I'd been sick of Rhys. We'd got married two months ago and I'd felt trapped. I'd felt like there was something more out there, something more exciting and dangerous. My life with Rhys has become boring and monotonous – or at least that was what I had thought. Jack had represented the thing that I wanted to so much. Now though, it felt like something had changed. I'd missed Rhys when I'd been in the hub, and even though I'd wanted Jack at the start, by the end that feeling had faded. I'd been able to see how happy Jack made Ianto. At first we'd all thought that it was just about sex, that was how it always appeared. But being in the hub with them for nearly 72 hours had let me see more. I'd noticed the way they looked at each other, the way Jack would brush Ianto's hand when he walked past and how Ianto always gave Jack his coffee first. There were all those tiny little signs that none of us had noticed before. The signs hadn't just made me realise that there was something more to Jack and Ianto's relationship, it made me realise that I'd missed the little things Rhys and I had. By the end I had just been yearning to get back to the flat. Though I had a feeling that I was the only one.

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn't even noticed Rhys coming up behind me. I jumped as I felt his arms snake around my waist and I smiled as I felt him rest his head against me.

"Did you do that?" he asked, gesturing to the message I'd written on the window.

"No it was Father Christmas," I giggled. He kissed my cheek and I leant back against him. "What are you doing up?"

"I could ask you the same. That light woke me up." I turned to face him and stared into his eyes.

"Sorry."

"Alright." I smiled and turned around again so I could see the city. The two of us stood like that for a few minutes, holding each other and just gazing at Cardiff. I reached up and pushed a lock of hair behind my ear and I saw my two rings glint in the light. I stared at them and felt a smile form on my face.

"It's gone Christmas Day you know," I heard Rhys say, pulling me from the memory of our wedding. I spun around in his arms.

"Really," I smirked, raising my eyebrows. "Maybe I should give you your Christmas present early." He looked confused for a second before he grinned.

"I think I'd like that Mrs Williams." I kissed him hard on the lips and he kissed me back passionately. I felt him lift me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist. As we staggered towards the bedroom I pulled away from him and gazed into his eyes.

"God I love you Rhys."

"I love you too Gwen." With that we fell onto our bed, entangled in each other.

Jack's P.O.V

I leant back on my bed and sighed in annoyance. I'd been trying to fall asleep for the past three hours and yet nothing had come from it. Instead I was just tossing and turning with thoughts of Ianto running through my head. I'd grown accustomed to him being next to me, breathing gently. Now I was faced with the prospect of three days and nights of nothing to do but wander around an empty hub. Part of me was tempted to call him, but I knew that his sister was coming to stay and I had a feeling he wouldn't want me intruding. So instead I was wasting hours lying on my bed feeling bored and alone. I ran my fingers through my hair and debated how I could spend Christmas. I'd never done anything for it since I didn't have family or anything. It also helped that for the past three Christmases there had been some form of alien interaction. There'd been the time that the Sycorax ship had stopped over London and Tosh and I had had to try and stop Owen and Ianto from walking off a roof. Then there'd been the Racnoss firing at London. Of course most recently there had been a large ship nearly crushing the palace. Sadly this year there appeared to be no sign of an alien invasion. That meant the team would actually be remaining at home.

I froze suddenly as I heard a noise coming from the main section. I automatically leaped off the bed and grabbed my gun. I snuck out of my bedroom and slowly my way down the dimly lit corridor. I heard the sound of a crash from the hub and I began to move forward faster. I racked my brains for how someone could have got in. The hub was ridiculously secure and I'd made sure that every entrance was locked. I raised my gun and emerged into the hub.

"Stop what you're doing and get your hands in the air." It was so dark that I could only faintly make out the figure. However I could see them turning around. "Don't move! I will shoot."

"You're really going to shoot your own doctor?" the voice asked. Owen." I sighed and lowered the gun. Well I had wanted company. I flicked on the lights and made my way over to him. He looked like he hadn't slept and he was still wearing what he had been wearing yesterday. It also appeared that he hadn't shaved.

"You look like shit," I muttered.

"Thanks. So do you," he said, rolling his eyes at me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him, sitting down. I gestured for him to do the same and he simply shrugged and complied.

"I got sick of being in that flat."

"So you came to the hub?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at him. I pulled open one of the drawers of the desk that we were sat in front of. Thankfully it was Owen's and thus there was a bottle of vodka and two glasses inside. I pulled them out and poured us both a large glass. "You look like you need this," I said, sliding it across to him. He took it gratefully and took a swig.

"Like I said, I was sick of being in my flat," he said. I watched as he downed the drink and poured himself another. "It's kind of depressing being in a flat by yourself on Christmas."

"Never bothered you before has it?" I asked, taking a gulp of my drink. I felt the familiar burning sensation in my throat and I took another drink.

"Normally we have a big invasion to deal with." It scared me that the thoughts I had been having earlier were spookily similar to Owen's. "There's nothing this year. So I've wasted all of today in my flat. It's just lame that I'm alone on Christmas Eve."

"You could have gone to a club or something?" I said as I refilled our empty glasses.

"I tried that but…"

"But what?"

"I wasn't really in the mood." I almost choked on my drink at that comment.

"_You_ weren't in the mood for sex?" I asked in disbelief.

"It was just that…" Instead of continuing, he glared at me as he noted the grin that was threatening to form on my face. "Oh I'm not going to bother if you're just going to laugh at me." I sighed and quashed my urge to laugh.

"I won't laugh. I promise." I looked at him and desperately struggled to keep a straight face. He examined my face before continuing.

"It was just that there was no one in there I wanted. Sure there were plenty of hot girls in there, and I mean hot," he emphasised. "It was just that I didn't want any of them. I've gotten bored of the whole shagging random birds since…" He stopped and I knew he was thinking of Diane. "I just had a beer and left. This was the first place I thought to come." He stopped talking and took a drink. He avoided my eyes and stared into the glass.

"One drink?"

"Okay I had a few."

"A few?"

"Well enough to get the person who owns the club to chuck me out."

"What club were you in?"

"Baccahe."

"I thought you were barred from there."

"I wasn't. Well I am now." He avoided my eyes and stared into the glass.

"Look at us two," I said and he looked up to meet my gaze.

"What?" he said, looking confused.

"It's Christmas Eve." I stopped and glanced at my watch. "Scrap that. It's Christmas Day and we're both sat in the place we work, drinking and sounding completely depressed. Could we be any more sad?" He didn't reply, instead just shrugging. At that moment, Ianto's face flashed into my mind. I was sat here drinking with Owen, feeling ridiculously depressed, when Ianto was just a few minutes drive away.

"Get up," I said, standing up myself.

"Why?"

"Will you just do what I say for once?" He glared at me and stood up. I grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the exit.

Owen's P.O.V

I shivered as we staggered out into the cold night air. I realised that Jack was dragging me over to the SUV.

"You're hardly in a fit state to drive?" I said, slipping into doctor mode. He turned and gave me a dirty look.

"Do you want to spend Christmas bitter and alone while nursing a hangover?" I didn't bother to reply. "Right. Then you let me drive." I couldn't be arsed to argue, instead opening the passenger door and getting in. Jack climbed in next me and began to back the car out onto the road.

"Are you going to bother telling me where we're going? Because I'm really not in the mood for some bonding trip with you." He didn't bother to look at me, instead focusing on the road.

"We're not going to the same place if that's what you're thinking. Sorry to disappoint you." Now I felt even more confused.

"Well where the hell are we going then?" This time he didn't reply. Instead he took a sharp left and I swore as my head banged against the window. "Would you be more careful? I'm not quite in the mood to die."

"Do you always talk?" he asked. I glared at him and took to staring out of the window. I felt more awake now, though that was most likely to do with the three glasses of vodka that I'd had.

Jack continued to drive us down unfamiliar streets. Neither of us spoke, instead both of us staring at the empty roads that we drove down. It felt like we were the only people who were awake. Though it wasn't exactly normal to be out at midnight on Christmas. I sighed and watched my breath mist up the glass. I began to doodle on the window and I heard Jack groan.

"You're like a child you know that?" I looked at him and smirked.

"If you just told me where we were going?" I said.

"Doesn't matter. We're here." He slammed on the brakes and the car suddenly stopped. I stared out of the window and saw that we were outside a block of flats – Tosh's block of flats.

"Why the hell are we here? Are you planning on bringing Tosh on this little trip?"

"Nope." He gave me a look that seemed to say are-you-really-that-stupid-? "I've noticed the way you've been with Tosh these past few days. Even before that. She's been pining over you for the past two years and it took you long enough to notice. Now I bloody well want you to do something about it. I really won't be able to put up with you both not acting on your feelings. It's been bad enough with her falling for you, I don't need you hiding your feelings as well!" The first thought in my head was whether I had really been that obvious. "Yes you have been that obvious. We've all noticed it," he said answering my question. He stopped and simply looked at me.

"What if she's not interested? And what am I meant to say?"

"Trust me on this Owen, she is definitely interested. And just tell her what you've been feeling recently. Now go!" I heard the sound of the doors unlocking. I stared at Jack and saw the look of determination on his face.

"So where are you off to then?" I asked, trying to delay the inevitable.

"None of your business," he said.

"Ianto's then," I laughed. I took in Jack's face and stopped the jokey act. "You really like teaboy don't you?"

"Yeah I do. And don't call him teaboy."

"Sorry," I muttered. "Looks like we've both got some things to say to our workmates."

"Well it's better than spending Christmas alone and drunk." I shrugged, knowing that he was right. I pushed open my car door and as I climbed out, I turned to Jack.

"What if she rejects me?"

"She won't." That was all he said before he said before he leant over and slammed my door shut. I watched as he drove the SUV away into the darkness, leaving me alone on the pavement.

I took a deep breath and raked a hand through my hair. I slowly my way over to the buzzer and I located the one for Tosh's flat. Pressing the button I waited, part of me praying she was awake and the other praying that she was asleep. Just as I was about to give up, I heard her sleep-ridden voice.

"Who is it? Do you know what time it is?"

"Tosh it's me. Can I come up?" There was a pause and I stood there on the deserted street, waiting for an answer.

"Yeah." I heard the sound on the buzzer and the click of the door opening. I pulled away and slowly made my way inside.

Ianto's P.O.V

I stood in my kitchen, wearing nothing but my boxers, waiting for the kettle to boil. Camilla was fast asleep in the guest bedroom. She'd arrived just after I'd returned home and we'd spent all night reminiscing. Then she'd dragged me around nearly every shop in Cardiff, demanding that I help her buy stuff. Now she was asleep and I was enjoying a rare moment of peace.

Part of me wondered what it would have been like it if Jack had come and met Camilla. I'd thought about asking him when we'd left the hub, but I'd been scared that he was going to just turn me down. Even after spending four days snowed in with him, I was still unsure as to where Jack stood on our relationship. I'd tried to pluck up the nerve to ask him but I couldn't bring myself to. Instead I had simply carried on like it wasn't bothering me. However I was yearning to know whether he actually thought we were in a relationship. Even if he did, did he see it as mutually exclusive? I groaned as I realised that I sounded like some possessive boyfriend. I was used to Jack's flirting ways; hell he flirted with every single alien and human we met. It was just that I was worried that he'd get bored of me. What did I have to offer over everyone else that was available to Jack? When Captain John had arrived, I'd just felt stupid next to him. He was like another Jack and what was I?

I sighed and began to make myself a drink. Then I heard the sound of knocking on the door. I frowned and glanced at the small clock. It was one in the morning on Christmas day. I made my way to the door, grabbing a pair of joggers on the way that I pulled on. I hardly wanted to be arrested for indecent exposure. However as I opened the door, I realised that it would probably have been better if I'd not bothered.

"Lovely outfit Ianto. You should dress like that all the time," Jack winked at me.

"What are you doing here Jack?" I asked, noting the SUV that was parked on the road.

"Can I come in?" he asked and I was surprised that he didn't just come out with some innuendo filled comment. I stood aside and let him in. As he wandered in and gazed at the small house I owned, I thought about how strange the scene was. I was used to seeing Jack in the hub, not standing in my hallway. He looked out of place in his WWII coat.

"Did you want a coffee or something?" I asked, desperate to fill the uncomfortable silence that had formed. However he just shook his head and turned to look at me.

"What is it we're doing exactly Ianto?" I froze at the question, fear building. Questions like that never led to good things.

"What do you mean?" I questioned, clenching my fists slightly.

"Okay that didn't come out quite right." He took a small step towards me. "I mean what is it that is going on between us?" Suddenly we were addressing the issue that I had wanted to talk about. Except now I wasn't too sure that I wanted to deal with it. I noticed Jack coming even closer and I felt him gently cup my face. "Are we together or not?" I simply nodded, unable to lie. "Would you say we were in a relationship?" Again I nodded, unable to control my actions. It felt I was no longer in control of my body. Instead I was on autopilot and just letting everything out. "Good. That's what I thought." He kissed me gently before taking my hand and leading me to the stairs. Then I regained control and yanked my hand away.

"What was that?" He stared at me confused.

"What?"

"That? You ask a question and that's it."

"To be fair I asked two," he laughed. However I just looked at him and the grin slipped from his face. "I was in the hub and I couldn't sleep. Then Owen arrived and we got talking. We were both in the same situation – depressed and alone on Christmas. I realised that I didn't want to be stuck in the hub by myself." He didn't finish, but I mentally filled in the rest of the sentence: 'I wanted to be with you.' I moved towards him and kissed him.

"I want to be with you for Christmas as well," I smiled.

"Well that's very good."

"Glad you think so sir," I smirked. As we quietly ascended the stairs, I looked at him questioningly.

"Owen?"

"Yeah he was feeling lonely. I sent him to Tosh." I laughed and froze as I heard my sister's door opening, the light from her room filling the hall. She appeared at the top of the stairs, her blonde hair looking wild.

"What the hell is going on Ianto? Who is this?" I watched as Jack gave her his 100-watt smile.

"You must be Camilla, Ianto's sister." She nodded. "I'm Jack. You're brother's boss and boyfriend." I don't know which one hit me first: that Jack had just called himself my boyfriend or that my sister had just learnt I was gay.

"You're sleeping with your boss? Your male boss? You're gay?" I simply nodded her and looked confused as she laughed.

"I knew it! I've been telling mum that you're gay for the past year but she wouldn't believe me." With that, she turned and made her way back into her bedroom. "Just keep it down you two." She laughed and shut her door causing the hallway to descend into darkness.

"You're sister's certainly not what I expected her to be," Jack said, raising his eyebrows. As I led him up towards my room, I turned to him.

"Is my sister really what you're concerned with right now?" I asked. He shook his head and leant in to kiss me. We somehow managed to stumble into the bedroom while still kissing. As we fell onto the bed and I felt Jack's hands roam my body, I realised that this Christmas had turned out to be pretty perfect.

Tosh's P.O.V

I opened the door and stared at Owen. He was leaning against the doorframe and I let my eyes scan his body, taking in his dishevelled appearance. He was wearing the clothes he had been wearing when we left the hub and there were bags under his eyes and stubble across his jaw.

"Can I come in?" he asked. I nodded and stepped aside, shivering as the cold from the hallway drifted into my flat. I tugged at the shirt I was wearing, the football shirt Owen gave me, and attempted to at least look partly decent. He didn't even seem to acknowledge me, instead just wandering over to the small sofa that was in the centre of the room. I sighed and shut the door before turning to him.

"What is it you want Owen?" I asked feeling slightly uncomfortable at having him sat in my flat on my sofa.

"I'm not really sure." He didn't say anything else but he turned to look at me. I wondered whether this was just one of his stupid jokes. It had gone one in the morning and the last thing I needed was him turning up at my flat for no reason. I couldn't deny though that it was nice to have him here. I had felt lonely today, but I guessed that was due to having been with the team for the past few days. I'd spent today walking around Cardiff because I really didn't feel like being in my flat all alone. Of course that had just meant that I'd had to see loved up couples wandering around, holding hands and exchanging loving looks. I'd ended up buying a bottle of wine and curling up on the sofa watching 'Titanic.' I had fallen fast asleep at an uncomfortable angle and had woken up at the point where the ship began to sink. I'd been about to head to bed when Owen had come knocking on my door so I was praying that it was for a good reason.

I made my way over to the sofa, grabbing my dressing gown of the chair on the way. I sat down next to him and turned to face him, curling up on the sofa. It felt odd to be this close to him while in my flat.

"Well?" I asked as I tried to push him to give me a reason for his arrival.

"Jack forced me to come here." I felt my heart sink slightly as it dawned on me that he hadn't come here out of his own choice. I'd been hopeful that he was coming to see me, when instead our boss had made him come. It was silly to think he'd choose to see me, when he could be with any girl in Cardiff right now.

"Oh." He turned to look at me, his grey eyes meeting mine.

"It's not like I didn't want to come, it's just that it was Jack's idea and he drove me here. Well I guess that means he did push me in a way, but I mean I did want to come and see you. It's just that I hadn't thought about doing it until Jack suggested it and…" As he continued to talk I couldn't help but grin. I was making Owen Harper ramble. It was always me that got ridiculously nervous when talking to him and now he was doing what I always did. It was calming to know that he wasn't always Mr Confident.

"Owen. Be quiet." He stopped talking and stared at me. I studied his face, taking in the specks of brown that haunted his eyes and definition of his jaw. As I looked at him, I could see so many of the reasons that I'd first become attracted to him. At that moment it was like I was thrown from my body and I became a viewer of the scene that was playing out. It felt like I had lost all power over my body and I watched as I saw myself lean forward and kiss him. I could see the way my eyes closed as he began to kiss me back and the way his hands slowly wandered to my hips. Then it was like I was back in my body and I could feel the emotion that was coursing through my veins. I could feel his hands slowly roam across my back and the pure passion that I felt. He began to move away from my mouth and kiss my neck. I felt myself shiver and a moan escape from my mouth as I felt his lips against my skin. The last thing I could remember was the two of us falling backwards so we were lying on the couch and the pleasure racing through my body.

Two hours later and I was lying in bed, resting against Owen. He was fast asleep with his arms flayed out, one curled tightly around my waist. I shifted slightly and I felt him nudge my head so it was resting on his shoulder. As I lay there I could hear him breathing gently and I could feel his chest rising and falling. Part of me felt like this was all some dream and that I was going to wake up alone in my bed, ready to face another day at work. However in my heart of hearts I knew that this was real. I smiled slightly and closed my eyes to fall asleep. But just as I felt myself beginning to drift off, the piercing sound of my phone ringing shattered the silence. I groaned and sat up to reach it, but I felt Owen tugging me back down.

"Leave it," he muttered, pulling me into him.

"It could be important," I argued as I struggled to get up to answer the phone. However his hold was so strong that I couldn't fight and I eventually gave up as he kissed my neck. I giggled as he rolled over so he was on top of me and he leant down to kiss me. I ran my hands through his hair and kissed him back. We lay there, entwined in each other, as the phone continued to ring. I heard my message play and a voice at the other end began to speak in a heavy Japanese accent.

"Toshiko I know you're there. Pick up the phone. It's bad enough you don't come for Christmas and that you give me some excuse about snow. But now you don't even pick up the phone on Christmas Eve. I know you're there and listening to this message, so answer. What are you doing? Are you sat doing work again? If you are then that isn't good enough Toshiko. I told you last year that you had to get yourself a man but nothing's changed. No man is ever going to want you if you just work all the time. You'll end up like those Christmas cakes…" She would have continued to speak but before I could stop him, Owen picked up the phone.

"Hello?" he said, yawning slightly.

"Owen!" I hissed, trying to grab the phone but he held it out of my reach.

"This is Owen Harper, I work with your…" He held the phone to his chest and looked at me. "Is it your grandma?" I nodded and groaned, grabbing a pillow and burying my head under it. However I could still hear what he was saying. "Yeah I work with your granddaughter…Why am I here? I'm here because Tosh invited me around…Yes she's very nice…Well currently she's lying underneath me…" With that I yanked the pillow off my head and grabbed the phone out of his hand.

"Grandma calm down," I muttered as she began to rant in my ear. It sounded like she was torn between being happy because I was actually with a guy and also furious because I was sleeping with said guy. "No it's not like that…no…I've known him for two years…we're not actually dating…" Owen, who had rolled off me and was shifting so I could lean against him, looked up at this point.

"We are if you want to." I grinned and as he began to nuzzle at my neck, I focused my attention back on my grandma.

"I'm going to have to go and yes he is perfectly nice." I hung up the phone and let it fall to the floor as he kissed me. "I could kill you for that."

"Yeah but you won't."

**2 days later – 27****th**

**General P.O.V**

"Tosh you got an explanation for me yet?" Jack asked as he emerged from the kitchen, his hair looking messier than before.

"Yes Jack I've managed to come up with a reason for the freak snowstorm in less than 10 minutes. At least give me some time," she muttered sarcastically as she adjusted her glasses.

"You know you're getting too sarcastic Tosh and I'm not sure I like it. You're spending to much time with him," Jack said pointing to Owen who was spinning around in his chair while chewing on his pen.

"Hey don't blame me!" he answered, stopping spinning and slouching in his chair. "If I remember rightly, you're the one that chucked me out onto the freezing cold pavement in front of her flats." Jack simply glared at him and grabbed a ball of paper off one of the desks and chucked it at him.

A couple of minutes later, Ianto emerged with the usual round of steaming hot coffee. He began to hand out the mugs, however just as he was handing Tosh hers, Gwen came flying in. Her hair was tied up in a scraggy ponytail and she looked like she had just woken up.

"Shit sorry I'm late. The alarm didn't go off and then Rhys and I were trying to get ready and…" she skidded over to her desk, her bag flying out behind her.

"Ow! Fuck!" Tosh suddenly shouted. It appeared that Gwen had banged into Ianto who had managed to spill hot coffee all over Tosh's hand. Ianto leaped away and began to apologise, as did Gwen.

"Oh shit! Sorry Tosh, I didn't mean to." Tosh simply shrugged and began to wave her hand around trying to shake the hot coffee off before it burned too much. She continued to mutter expletives under her breath as she stood up to go run her hand under cold water, tears forming in her eyes because of the pain. Owen sighed and stood up, grabbing at her arm.

"Come on then. Lets go get you sorted out." The two wandered off in the kitchen, his arm wrapped around her waist.

"Does this mean I'm going to have to wait for the explanation for the snow then?" Jack shouted, receiving a short shout in Japanese from Tosh.

Forty minutes later the team found themselves in the meeting room as Tosh revealed the reason for the snow.

"Okay so I've looked into it and there appears to be no reason for the snow."

"Excuse me?" Jack asked, looking at her incredulously. "You're telling me there's no reason for it at all."

"I looked into and one moment there were some small snow clouds over Cardiff and literally two minutes later there was a flurry of heavy snow." She shrugged at Jack who had obviously been hoping for more of a reason.

"Maybe they were deceptive snow clouds?" Owen smirked. She turned to look at him.

"Oh yes that's it. Half the clouds were invisible and it was all some great trick," she laughed. He reached up and poked her and she reached out to hit him before remembering her hand was bandaged.

"Tosh you have to give us something," Ianto added, finally giving his input. It appeared he had been too distracted with Jack stroking his leg to focus.

"Yeah, give us something. A giant alien warship; something coming through the rift; anything," Gwen sighed.

"I can't just magic something out of thin air. I have checked and triple checked and there is no reason for all the snow. It just appeared." She gave the team a look that clearly said it was the end of the discussion and they all gave small sighs before leaving. Gwen wandered off to call Rhys, Jack and Ianto disappeared into his office and Owen and Tosh left to grab lunch.

Fate's P.O.V

I sometimes wonder whether Torchwood ever bother to think that something could happen that isn't caused by aliens. They were all desperately trying to find some alien cause for the freak snowstorm. Maybe they should have just looked a little closer to home – me. Sometimes things just happen for a reason and there's no clear explanation for them. It seemed to me that the team needed a little shove in the right direction. Gwen was falling out of love with the guy she was meant to be with, and in love with the guy that was wrong for her. Now she's happily gabbing on the phone to her husband. Jack and Ianto seemed to be stuck in between just sex and a real relationship. Now I can see them sat in his office, flirting and discussing dinner with Ianto's sister. And Owen was ignorant to Tosh's feelings for him. Now they're sharing a plate of chips and arguing about whether they should see 'Juno' or 'I Am Legend' tonight.

Every so often people just need a push in the right direction before they go veering off down the wrong path. That's what I'm here for - me and my snowstorms.

**A/N:**Well that's it – the final part of my first TW story. Yes it's soppy, romantic and almost certainly clichéd, but I am very proud of it. This is the first longer story that I've actually managed to finish and it makes me so happy that so many people like it.

There's been the suggestion of a sequel and I am considering that but I think I would have to have a strong idea to do so. So if anyone's got any suggestions then please tell me in your review.

I've had a fantastic amount of reviews for this story and I would love every single person who reads this chapter to leave me a review, even if you've never reviewed before. That includes everyone who has reviewed before, everyone who has this story on alert (all 66 of you) and everyone who just read it randomly. I'd really appreciate it because I have adored getting reviews for this story.

Some stats (all not including author notes):

Number of words: 23,494

Number of pages: 54 on word in Tahoma 12

Number of story alerts: 66

Number of hits (before this chapter was posted): 6316

Number of reviews (before this chapter was posted): 83

Number of people who added it to favourite stories: 20

For me my favourite person to write was probably Tosh because she's quite a quiet character on the show so it was nice to write more about what she's like. I also enjoyed writing Gwen, which is interesting because she's my least favourite character. I guess it's because I could play up the parts of her personality I actually liked and dim down the irritating bossy part of her. I loved writing Tosh/Owen because I do think they'd make an excellent couple on the show if they would just get together.

Thanks to:

- Helen and Jenny who came up with ideas such as monopoly and Secret Santa and who helped me come up with the presents

- Everyone who put me on story/ author alert

- Everyone who added this story or me to their favourites

- Everyone who bothered to read this story

- Everyone who reviewed:

**amy. j x**

**Sakya**

**kateg123**

**ThisPhoenix**

**MythStar Black Dragon**

**jackandiantoisforever**

**The Captains Girlie**

**Bacchae**

**Forestwife**

**Pinkfairy727**

**Sashapotter**

**LilMisssugarPlumFairy**

**Bbmcowgirl**

**Joylesswonder52**

**Bubbleslayer**

**Drealynnz**

**Firell**

**Aannaa**

**Romy-katherine**

**DeadLikeMe1311**

**Princesspeaches**

**Ithilian**

**Snowbear96**

**The-spirit-of-st-louis**

**Rithralinde**

**JoBrosMusicRoxs**

**LadyAJ**

**Faramirlover**

**Boo26**

**C.M.S. Cipriano**

**evilpinkbutterfly101**

**Darmok**

**-X-Loner-X-Starlight-X-**

**lilrose84**

**HSMTroypay07**

**Crazy Psycho Book Freak**

**rockchick900**

**muppetmadness**

**Mcross**

**PlayKate**

**Mydoctortennant**

I hope everyone who has read this enjoyed this story. Thanks for taking the time to read and please review :)


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